
John Krafcik, former CEO of Google's Waymo, recently questioned Tesla's Robotaxi service, saying, "Please notify me when Tesla launches the Robotaxi. I'm still waiting. If there are employees in the car, it's obviously not a Robotaxi."
An automotive blogger retweeted the post and said, "Okay, we'll let you know. You tell me when I can buy a Waymo. I wonder which one will happen first." Tesla CEO Elon Musk responded, "They'll go from claiming Tesla's Autopilot is fake to claiming Tesla's Autopilot is unreasonably good."
It's understood that Tesla's Robotaxi service has been operating in Model Y vehicles since it launched in Austin, Texas on June 23, 2025. The service hours are from 6:00 AM to 12:00 AM daily. Notably, the service still has a front-seat safety driver and a remote monitoring team, which stands in stark contrast to Waymo's fully unmanned Level 4 operation model.
In addition, Tesla's autonomous driving technology route relies on a pure vision solution, while Waymo uses a multi-sensor fusion solution that includes lidar. The difference in their technical paths is also a focus of industry controversy.