Google: Waymo & Vehicle Costs per Mile

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Going back to your time at Cruise, I've spoken with some people there and followed public information. The stakes are high. I'm curious about how Waymo approached the possibility of a massive safety issue, like in Cruise's case where someone was tragically killed and the company was essentially shut down. What were the conversations with your team about prioritizing safety while also wanting to scale out to new cities and geographies? How did you discuss balancing these priorities internally?

When I first transitioned from Waymo to Cruise, during the initial six to 12 months, I questioned if I had made the right decision. Cruise appeared to be expanding aggressively and seemed to be closing the technical gap. I was concerned they might overtake us. However, it turned out they were being reckless, which led to the company's downfall due to some poor decisions. This experience reinforced my belief that Waymo's conservative approach, which aligns with Google's methodology, is the right way to proceed.

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Going back to your time at Cruise, I've spoken with some people there and followed public information. The stakes are high. I'm curious about how Waymo approached the possibility of a massive safety issue, like in Cruise's case where someone was tragically killed and the company was essentially shut down. What were the conversations with your team about prioritizing safety while also wanting to scale out to new cities and geographies? How did you discuss balancing these priorities internally?

It's a challenging balance. We aim to drive more miles because it benefits the company in several ways. However, we have a robust safety team that monitors incident rates per mile, per 10,000 miles, and per 100,000 miles. They determine how many total miles we can drive to minimize safety incidents. As our technology stack improves, the incidents per 10,000 miles decrease, allowing us to increase our mileage budget. This team provides essential guardrails for long-term planning and mileage considerations.

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