FILE PHOTO: People take pictures of a Waymo driverless taxi passing by in San Francisco, California, U.S., September 28, 2024. REUTERS/Laure Andrillon/File Photo
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) -Alphabet's Waymo self-driving taxis may be available for people to own in the future, CEO Sundar Pichai said on Thursday, just as electric vehicle maker Tesla gears up to roll out robotaxis this year in the United States.
Waymo, which started as a small self-driving project in 2009 and spun out of Google seven years later, has expanded slowly but steadily in a tricky autonomous vehicle market that has witnessed several casualties due to soaring investment, tight regulatory requirements and tough technological hurdles.
