San Francisco
Waymo, the autonomous vehicle company owned by Alphabet, has announced a new round of employee layoffs, marking the third such instance this year. These layoffs are a component of an internal restructuring process, and while the exact number of affected employees was not disclosed, the company confirmed that the impact would be on a limited scale. A spokesperson for Waymo stated, A small number of Waymo teams recently made adjustments to their teams as part of the normal course of business. The adjustments were described as being within the parameters of standard business operations. Earlier in the year, Alphabet initiated significant layoffs across the company, and Waymo was not exempt from these measures. In March, Waymo let go of over 200 employees in its second round of layoffs. This constituted an 8 percent reduction, affecting a total of 209 employees, primarily in engineering roles. These layoffs were part of a broader organizational restructure with a focus on fiscal responsibility. At the beginning of the year, Waymo had approximately 2,500 employees. More recently, Waymo was granted permission by state regulators to expand its autonomous vehicle operations in San Francisco. It received a permit from the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) for its driver-less pilot program, allowing autonomous vehicle companies to transport passengers in test autonomous vehicles without human drivers. Waymo has also announced its intentions to commence testing fully driverless vehicles in Los Angeles. Additionally, regulators in the state of California have granted approval for Cruise and Waymo to operate commercial robotaxi services across San Francisco around the clock.
