from Hacker News

Waymo Layoffs

by whynot-123 on 10/18/23, 12:46 AM with 125 comments

• by latchkey on 10/18/23, 1:31 AM

  Previously:

  Waymo is scaling back its self-driving truck ambitions https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36886514 (July 26, 2023 — 3 points, 1 comments)

  Alphabet’s Waymo cuts more than 100 jobs in second round of layoffs https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34988618 (March 1, 2023 — 37 points, 7 comments)

• by duxup on 10/18/23, 1:45 AM

  I can’t imagine three layoffs in a year is great for morale.

  Is there a reason they chose this sort of trickling layoffs approach?

• by agnosticmantis on 10/18/23, 5:32 AM

  It's a shame that companies that are actually creating great tech and solving difficult problems are shrinking while some vaporware nonsense raises a billion:

  https://www.theverge.com/2023/9/28/23893939/jony-ive-openai-...

• by rnk on 10/18/23, 1:41 AM

  Is there a conclusion that the taxi service kind of works and just needs to fix a few minor issues around the edges fixed to work in limited city use in many cities, or is it so far away it's not even close?

• by foxandmouse on 10/18/23, 2:00 AM

  To anyone following this space, this was inevitable. Also, What is going on at google these days, I don't see them having a competitive advantage in any industry after this decade..

• by bananapub on 10/18/23, 12:26 PM

  ultimately, Google is just not run very well and having a firehose of cash for twenty years meant no one noticed

• by FooBarBizBazz on 10/18/23, 3:47 AM

  Layoffs in what's supposed to be an emerging growth industry? Looks like a signal that the growth opportunity isn't actually there.

• by xnx on 10/18/23, 2:32 AM

  Does Waymo still have two CEOs? Seems like an unusual situation that isn't sustainable if tough decisions need to get made.

• by rvz on 10/18/23, 2:07 AM

  Just goes to show that even Google over-leveraged on hiring and is shutting down products left, right and center. The AI race to zero is not helping them at all as well as the anti-trust trial of the decade.

  They will survive, but broken up.

  So more layoffs to come, unfortunately from the correction of the zero interest rate phenomenon with decades long QE all coming to an end.

• by numpad0 on 10/18/23, 4:58 AM

  Are there a lot to be done near term in SDC, or has it been stagnating for a while?

• by wigglewoggle on 10/18/23, 4:40 AM

  Not enough numbers to trigger disclosure laws?

  Previous round was dozens?

  So we're talking 15 employees?

• by thinkerswell on 10/18/23, 1:55 AM

  At this point how long before the fed starts to lower rates.

• by up2isomorphism on 10/18/23, 4:51 AM

  Does it make money? No Does it make you drive your car safely while sleeping ? No

  Does learn to drive such a hard thing? No

  Then why do we need this kind of company? I don’t know.