BackLayoff drive: Alphabet's Waymo fires 137 employees
The job cuts at Waymo are part of wider layoffs across the auto and tech industry, including at Rivian Automotive Inc, General Motors Co, and Meta Platforms Inc.
PremiumAlphabet Inc's self-driving technology unit, Waymo has fired 137 employees in its second round of job cuts this year, the company told Reuters on Wednesday. With this, the firm has laid off a total of 8% (209 staffers) of its workforce.
In an official statement, Waymo said that it has eliminated some engineering roles as a part of the cuts to focus on commercial success.
The job cuts at Waymo are part of wider layoffs across the auto and tech industry, including at Rivian Automotive Inc, General Motors Co, and Meta Platforms Inc.
Companies, in general, have found that developing fully autonomous vehicles (AVs) that can go everywhere has proven harder and more expensive than expected, and prospects of a profitable robotaxi business likely remain several years away.
Investors and industry watchers have been concerned about billions of dollars that have been poured into the self-driving technology sector in a short span of time to commercialize it.
Ford Motor Co and Volkswagen AG pulled the plug on the self-driving unit Argo AI in November. General Motors Co burned through nearly $2 billion in 2022 at its robotaxi unit, Cruise, and said it anticipates spending even more this year, Reuters reported.
Activist investor TCI Fund Management said in November that Waymo is the biggest component of the Google parent's Other Bets segment and it has not justified excessive investment.
Alphabet said in January it would slash 12,000 jobs, which would affect a large number of employees who support experimental projects. Its health science unit, Verily Life Sciences, said in January it had laid off over 200 employees, or about 15% of its workforce.
In just two months of the year, tens of thousands of people are let go by many major tech biggies, unicorns, and startups, while more job cuts are in the offing. But there are still many Indian companies who are hiring in the current mass layoff scenario, and you have guessed it right -- the IT sector is leading in terms of job offers.
Major IT firms TCS, Infosys, HCL Tech Tech Mahindra, Wipro, LTIMindtree, Coforge, and others have hundreds and thousands of job openings.
(With Reuters inputs)
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