Waymo cuts 200 employees after second round of layoffs

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Alphabet’s Waymo has issued its second round of layoffs this 12 months, the corporate confirmed to ClassyBuzz. Mixed with the preliminary cuts in January, the self-driving expertise firm has let go of 8%, or 209 employees, of its workforce.

The layoffs — principally engineering roles — are half of a broader organizational restructure that follows a “fiscally disciplined strategy,” based on a Waymo spokesperson. In different phrases, the corporate is chopping prices the place it could because it continues to develop and deploy its expertise. Waymo is on the trail to commercialization of self-driving car expertise, however the highway forward is lengthy, and the corporate isn’t but bringing in a lot income to fund its operations.

Waymo’s layoffs comply with a surge of cuts at Alphabet and Google in January. Alphabet is amongst many U.S. firms to cut back workers forward of an impending recession. Some analysts and buyers say Waymo’s layoffs aren’t merely a product of a down market. The corporate has obtained severe funding from its dad or mum firm, and activist investor TCI Fund Administration said in November that Waymo hasn’t but justified that spend.

The information of extra layoffs comes the identical week that Waymo introduced plans to start out testing absolutely driverless automobiles — that means with no human security operator behind the wheel — in Los Angeles. Scaling its robotaxi service to new cities is essential to Waymo’s commercialization technique, and thus, its potential to supply a very good return on funding. The corporate continues to be doubtless years out from incomes sufficient income to cowl its money burn, although.