After spending more than five years at Waymo, Chief Executive Officer John Krafcik has decided to step down from his post. Waymo, a subsidiary of Alphabet that is working on developing autonomous-drive technology, will now have co-CEOs. Tekedra Mawakana and Dmitri Dolgov, two top executives of Waymo will now be the top bosses of the company. Telling about his decision to step down from the post in a blog post, Krafcik said that he would continue to remain with the company as an advisor. “Waymo One ride-hailing service is now open for all in the launch area of Metro Phoenix. Also, fifth generation of the Waymo Driver is under preparation for deployment in goods delivery and ride-hailing services. With all this, I think this is the appropriate time to pass the baton,” he said.
Tekedra Mawakana joined the company four years ago and he recently served the company as Chief Operating Officer. On the other hand, Dmitri Dolgov joined the company way back in 2009. It was the time when the company was created as known as the Google self-driving car project. Dolgov was recently working as Chief Technology Officer of the company. After being elevated to the post of co-CEOs, Mawakana and Dolgov sent a joint statement to Waymo employees. “We are committed to working for the development of better technology. We will work alongside to build and deploy the Waymo driver. We feel energized for the opportunities that are ahead of us.”
Waymo established itself as a leading player in the field of developing autonomous vehicle technology under the leadership of Krafcik. It has more than 20 billion miles driven in simulation and over 20 million miles on public roads. But just like the entire self-driving industry, Google’s subsidiary has struggled to meet deadlines. This is no more a hidden thing that developing self-driving cars is a very difficult task. Despite massive backing in terms of funding, Waymo raised USD3.25 billion externally. Meanwhile, there are debate weather roads should be retrofitted with sensors to support the launch of self-driving cars.
