Waymo co-CEO Tekedra Mawakana sent a clear message in an interview on Monday’s TechCrunch Disrupt 2025 stage: “Scaling is essential.”
Mawakana spoke in the context of how Waymo balances raising money (and spending it) with ultimately achieving profitability. But she also made it clear in the interview that she believes Waymo can improve road safety by reaching that scale.
All of this helps explain why the company is on the road to expansion this year and plans to launch in 2026 in more U.S. cities than just London, including Washington, D.C., Miami, Denver, Dallas, Seattle, and Nashville. It’s at a breakneck pace that self-driving car companies are leveraging multiple partnerships with companies like Uber, Lyft, and Avis.
“By the end of 2026, we will be able to offer one million trips per week,” she said.
Mawakana spent a lot of time in an interview with TechCrunch transportation editor Kirsten Kolosek talking about the challenges of safely reaching such scale.
Waymo’s co-CEO claimed the company operates at a safer level than the average human driver. And without naming names, he criticized competitors, saying they weren’t doing enough to prove their self-driving technology was truly safe.
“It’s their duty to be transparent about what’s going on,” she said. “And my view is that if you’re not being transparent, you’re not doing what you need to do to actually earn the right to make our roads safe.”
Her comments come as the company continues to solve unique cases as it expands, including one recent incident in Atlanta, Georgia, where a Waymo vehicle stopped in front of a stopped school bus, leading to an investigation by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
Waymo itself recently released a report claiming that its vehicles are already five times safer than most human drivers and 12 times safer for pedestrians.
Still, Waymo vehicles have been caught making a number of head-scratching decisions.
“It’s important to recognize that we’re never going to be perfect, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t take responsibility for transparency,” Mawakana said on stage. “I think so…we’re really concerned about those days as a company. You know, we don’t say if, we don’t say when, and we plan for them.”
Mawakana also said Waymo doesn’t think in terms of “how many (incidents) are acceptable.”
“We know these things happen because our cars are on the roads with people. Unfortunately, right now, the conditions of the roads and the way people are driving are causing a lot of deaths and a lot of injuries on the roads,” she said.
When asked whether the public would accept fatal accidents caused by robot taxis despite promises of improved safety, Mawakana said, “I think society would accept it.”
There’s still plenty of time to get your tickets to TechCrunch Disrupt 2025, with only two days left, we’re offering a 50% discount.
