Driving a self-driving car is feared by 71% of Americans, a poll by the American Automobile Association showed last year. Convincing them is one of the challenges facing John Krafchik. In 2015, he headed the division of unmanned vehicles Alphabet, a year later this structure was spun off into a separate company Waymo, and Krafchik became its CEO.
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So far, most Waymo cars on America’s roads have a person in the driver’s seat, ready to take over at any moment. But three years ago, the first cars began to appear in which there is no person who insures the autopilot. At the end of last year, the company offered volunteers to use cars such as taxis at their own risk and risk. And in October this year in Phoenix, Arizona, Waymo brought an already paid autopilot taxi onto the road.
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“We made it clear that we are not an automobile company,” Krafchik told The Wall Street Journal. His subordinates develop hardware and software that can be installed on any car. Waymo has partnerships with several car manufacturers. For example, the Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid is used as a taxi. Krafchik believes that there will not be one unified autopilot technology on the market, but several competing with each other will remain. Although sometimes he allows himself loud statements. “It may well be that everything with wheels and touching the ground will be controlled by Waymo,” he told Business Insider.
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