Waymo dominated U.S. robotaxi market in 2024, but Tesla and Amazon's Zoox loom
Waymo may have outlasted GM's Cruise to lead the U.S. market but Elon Musk's Tesla and Amazon's Zoox are working to catch up.
Despite General Motor's decision to shutter its Cruise robotaxi business earlier this month, the U.S. has never been closer to a driverless future.
For the autonomous vehicle industry, 2024 will be remembered as the year that at least one major U.S. player -- Alphabet-owned Waymo -- saw glimmers of mainstream adoption and made strides toward commercial viability.
That came after a rocky start for the self-driving car industry domestically.
Following a decade of sizable venture investments in AV companies, Uber sold off its self-driving business in 2020 after a fatal collision, and two years later Ford abandoned its stake in its robotaxi developers Argo.AI. In 2023, Cruise paused all of its driverless operations after collisions led to investigations and a suspension of its licenses in California. When GM decided to retreat from the robotaxi business earlier this month, it had already poured $10 billion into Cruise.
Waymo may have outlasted Cruise to lead the U.S. market but domestic competitors are working to catch up, too -- most notably Elon Musk's automaker Tesla and Amazon-owned Zoox.