The Robotaxi Competition Is Heating Up Between Waymo, Tesla and Zoox

Key Concepts

• Robo-taxis/Autonomous Vehicles
• Scaling of Autonomous Vehicle Services
• Safety and Error Rates of Autonomous Systems
• Competition in the Autonomous Vehicle Market
• Partnerships for Autonomous Vehicle Services
• Geographic Expansion of Robo-taxi Services

Whimo's Expansion

• Atlanta Launch: Whimo launched its robo-taxi service in Atlanta, its fifth major US city, partnering with Uber for ride booking and vehicle service (cleaning and repairs at depots).
• Fleet Size: Starting with "dozens" of vehicles, with plans to expand to "hundreds" over time.
• Service Area: Initially a 65 square mile zone in central Atlanta, spanning from downtown to Buckhead and Capitol View neighborhoods.
• Existing Operations: Whimo already operates without human technicians in Los Angeles, Austin, and the Phoenix and San Francisco metro areas.
• Future Expansion: Plans to launch in Miami and Washington DC next year, with testing in San Diego, Nashville, New York City, Las Vegas, and Tokyo.
• Rides per Week: Before Austin and Atlanta, Whimo was booking over 250,000 paid rides a week. With the additions and expansions in Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area, it's likely up to at least 300,000 paid rides a week.
• Revenue: Whimo doesn't disclose revenue, but Forbes estimates it likely booked $100 million of rides last year.

Tesla's Robo-taxi Launch in Austin

• Limited Launch: Tesla began giving paid robo-taxi rides in Austin to a small group of pre-selected shareholders and owners.
• Safety Monitors: The vehicles had human safety monitors in the front seat and chase cars for remote tracking.
• Fleet Size: Approximately a dozen Model Y's were used.
• Analyst Perspective: Barclay's analyst Dan Levy noted that while some see it as the start of a new era for Tesla, the path to scaling is long, cautioning against over-optimism.
• Error Reports: The Dawn Project, led by Dan Odow, reported errors made by Tesla's Austin robo-taxi fleet on June 22nd.
  • Example 1: A vehicle "failed to complete a left turn and panicked whipping the steering wheel back and forth it then drove on the wrong side of the road failed to correct itself despite there being two open lanes for it to move into and continued to drive down the wrong side of the road."
  • Example 2: A Tesla "phantom braked" twice for a stationary police car.
  • Example 3: Riders were left in the middle of the street after asking the cars to pull over.

Competition: Amazon's Zuks

• Custom-Designed Robo-taxi: Zuks plans to begin giving paid rides in Las Vegas late this year with a custom-designed electric robo-taxi.
• Unique Design: The vehicle is a small van-like vehicle with no steering wheel, pedals, or mirrors, featuring sliding doors and a bidirectional design.
• Performance Specs: Top speed of 75 mph (though typically not exceeding 45 mph), intended to operate for up to 16 hours per charge per day, and remain in service for at least 5 years and 100,000 miles.

Key Quotes

• Dan Levy (Barkclay's analyst): "Bulls will point to yesterday's event as the start of a new era for Tesla one which bulls and believers have been awaiting for a long time they see the tech working well with a clear path of scaling and point to Tesla now generating revenue on driverless rides as a critical milestone we believe the much better question ahead is on the path of scaling which we believe will be long and we caution against over optimism."

Synthesis/Conclusion

The robo-taxi market is heating up with Whimo expanding its services and Tesla entering the arena. However, Tesla's early launch has faced scrutiny regarding safety and error rates. Zuks is taking a different approach with a custom-designed vehicle. Scaling these services safely and efficiently remains a key challenge for all players. The partnerships with companies like Uber are crucial for the expansion and maintenance of these robo-taxi fleets.