Bloomberg Technology
How Waymo’s Driverless Strategy Compares to Tesla’s
Srikanth Thirumalai, vice president of onboard software at Waymo, explains the company’s full-stack approach drive simulator, its safety-critique, and how it stacks up against Tesla’s strategy. He speaks to Bloomberg’s Tom Mackenzie. ——– Like this video? Subscribe to Bloomberg Technology on YouTube: Watch the latest full episodes of “Bloomberg Technology” with Caroline Hyde and…
@tomchang3212
May 10, 2026 at 1:44 am
Sorry to say, when Tesla starts ramping, it’s not if, but when which is about 6-9 month out, with tesla’s significant cost advantage, Waymo is screwed.
@daShadoSage
May 10, 2026 at 4:11 am
That “when” has been promised for 10 years. That “when” could be another 2 to 5 years. Take a look at the market and all of the available solutions out there now that have developed over the last 5 years alone. By the time “when” is here, it may not matter.
Besides, Tesla doesn’t have the cash for ramp-up. Last earnings call, Elon committed $25 billion in CPAEX… to a terrafab. An additional $20-50 billion will be needed to actually complete it. Tesla can’t possible earn enough cash, borrow, or raise ro pursue that, dreams of 10 billion Optimus robots, AND dominating AVs. It’s simply impossible. They’ll have to choose 1 out of 3 of those as a priority.
@viewer_5714
May 10, 2026 at 6:32 am
@daShadoSageYou are spewing nonsense, my good man.
@johnsutherland7561
May 10, 2026 at 10:03 am
@daShadoSage Please revisit your opinion in the next 12 to 36 months
@daShadoSage
May 10, 2026 at 11:22 am
@johnsutherland7561 lmao. Quite the time span. But definitely on brand
@JupiterStarShorts
May 10, 2026 at 12:58 pm
Yup
@BobKynaarfeld
May 10, 2026 at 4:08 am
Waffle
@ellislee4531
May 10, 2026 at 4:27 am
Waymo (and Bloomberg) are dinosaurs. Both worthless and both going extinct in real time.
@rickysheehan1
May 10, 2026 at 5:09 am
I am not convinced, Waymo’s cost of each vehicle is crazy expensive, show me a business that is up to 5 times their competitions cost of goods that has succeeded, Tesla’s model will scale like we have never seen before
@Shriekin_Commander
May 10, 2026 at 12:39 pm
Their 5th gen hardware was expensive but they are launching their 6th gen hardware platform this year, which is much cheaper and more versatile.
@Scott-sm9nm
May 10, 2026 at 8:21 pm
The Tesla CyberTaxi/RoboTaxi will crash and seriously hurt people and will be scrutinized. to death.
@dashawnsmith6010
May 10, 2026 at 6:44 am
$Spax21k is a scam
@James-f6f7x
May 10, 2026 at 6:45 am
Frankly speaking Weimar is suck
@info781
May 10, 2026 at 8:03 am
The biggest threat to Waymo is regulations. DC, Boston and New York are not going to let them in for a while. Any other company is vaporware at this point.
@oliverronquillo1971
May 10, 2026 at 9:22 am
Bloomberg is getting desperate. Cybercab is about to be launched in June.
@daShadoSage
May 10, 2026 at 2:55 pm
Literally the same thinh was said last June lol. Did you forget? The “big unveil” last year in the Hollywood studio lot? That should’ve been a strong signal. Showmanship
@oliverronquillo1971
May 10, 2026 at 3:21 pm
@daShadoSagedo you think he cares about when? You’re just weird.
@daShadoSage
May 10, 2026 at 3:27 pm
@oliverronquillo1971 lol. Elon? Do I think a CEO cares how many years it takes to get a product to market that was promised would save the company from declining revenues and sales?… i guess not? 😅
Silly idea for a CEO… i guess.
@oliverronquillo1971
May 10, 2026 at 3:31 pm
@daShadoSageyou need to read more. And when you think read enough, read more.
@johnsutherland7561
May 10, 2026 at 10:05 am
I wish Bloomberg and other similar news organizations would revisit stories like this a year or 2 down the road. A where are they now
@daShadoSage
May 10, 2026 at 2:54 pm
They’ve been revisiting every year for the past 10 lol. It’s been the same or very similar. And every revisit, there’s a comment like yours. “PLEASE revisit in a year, then you’ll see.” Since 2014
@claus1225
May 10, 2026 at 10:07 am
waymo will be gone in a a year
@daShadoSage
May 10, 2026 at 2:56 pm
Said every year for the last 10
@claus1225
May 10, 2026 at 10:08 am
$100 lost per ride.
@HarvardBob
May 10, 2026 at 10:12 am
Exactly right, Waymo is a cash burning machine look up other bets, which is the category that alphabet uses to fund their non-search engine other projects. Google has a hideous track record of producing hardware that is not profitable. The problem is they’re really good at writing blank checks and not good at making those businesses. Profitable nest is a very good example of this. They took in something greater than $350 million in revenue and had multiple billion dollars in expense. Then they scaled up from there. They’re expanding upon a money losing business right now that will only make several billion dollars go to many multiple billions of dollars.
@daShadoSage
May 10, 2026 at 2:56 pm
Good thing Alphabet has a tone of cash, and Waymo is raising money independently as well. Did you see the last funding round?
@Johnny-77777
May 10, 2026 at 3:08 pm
ㅎㅎ 니나
@cgaspara
May 10, 2026 at 3:08 pm
Waymo is over engineering the solution while a simpler software first approach will eventually dominate. Reminds me of Nokia in 2006 just before iPhone was released.