Waymo CEO Steps Down, Will Remain an Adviser

Photo: Waymo

According to Bloomberg, the CEO of Alphabet’s self-driving unit, Waymo, has stepped down.

CEO John Krafcik said to employees, “after five and a half exhilarating years leading this team, I’ve decided to depart from my CEO role with Waymo and kick-off new adventures,” reports Bloomberg, who obtained the memo.

Krafcik will remain as an adviser to Waymo, he explained. The CEO also added, “to start, I’m looking forward to a refresh period, reconnecting with old friends and family, and discovering new parts of the world.”

Waymo operates a self-driving taxi in Phoenix, Arizona, that launched last fall. The company’s autonomous efforts rely on radar and lidar.

Back in January, Krafcik said “for us, Tesla is not a competitor at all,” referring to the latter’s Autopilot and Full Self-Driving software. Tesla CEO Elon Musk responded, “To my surprise, Tesla has better AI hardware & software than Waymo (money).”