In a race often dominated by headlines from Tesla, Alphabet’s autonomous vehicle subsidiary Waymo has quietly carved out a significant lead, achieving a milestone of 10 million paid driverless trips. This achievement, announced by co-CEO Tekedra Mawakana at the Google I/O developer conference, underscores Waymo’s position💙 as the only company operating fully autonomous rides at scale across cities like Austin, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Phoenix. As reported by CNBC Television, Mawakana highlighted the exponential growth of the service, noting that Waymo doubled its trip count from 5 million at the end of last year to 10 million in just five months, with over 250,000 trips completed weekly.

This scale isn’t just a numerical triumph; it reflects a deeper integration into everyday life. Mawakana emphasized that these trips aren’t mere novelties or tourist attractions but are becoming a staple for users, a trend that fuels Waymo’s learning curve and community engagement. Each ride refines the technology and addresses real pain points, ensuring the service meets genuine needs. While she refrained from predicting when the next 10 million trips might occur, she ex♍pressed confidence in rapid growth, driven by a relentless focus on safety—a cornerstone of Waymo’s strategy.

Safety, in fact, is where Waymo draws a sharp contrast with competitors like Tesla, which is set to launch its robotaxi service soon. Tesla’s approach, relying on a camera-based system without LiDAR or pre-mapped routes, prioritizes cost efficiency, according to Mawakana’s observations on CNBC Television. Waymo, however, employs a “belts and suspende🅘rs” methodology, combining LiDAR, mapped routes, and rigorous safety protocols. This has allowed Waymo to operate driverless since October✨ 2020, a feat unmatched in the industry. Mawakana didn’t directly criticize Tesla but expressed a “healthy worry” about any player prioritizing cost over safety, citing past industry setbacks with companies like Uber and Cruise that have damaged public trust.

Tesla’s ambitious plans, including a goal of thousands of robotaxis on the road by year-end as stated by Elon Musk, co𒆙uld potentially outnumber Waymo’s fleet. Yet Mawakana argued that sheer numbers aren’t the metric of success. Utilization and safety impact—evidenced by Waymo’s data showing an over 80% reduction in airbag and injury-causing crashes after 50 million miles—are what matter. This focus on impact over volume shapes Waymo’s urgency, driven not by competition but by the global crisis of 1.3 million annual road deaths and demand from new markets eager for Waymo’s arrival.

Looking ahead, Waymo is diversifying its approach with partnerships like Zeekr for lower-cost vehicles, Hyundai for the Ioniq 5, and Toyota for potential personal ownership models. These moves counter critiques that Waymo’s hardware-heavy strategy lacks scalability. Mawakana also sees a national autonomous vehicle standard as critical for industry growth, expressing optimism for progress under the current U.S. administration. As Waymo expands to cities like Atlanta, Miami, and Washington D.C., and tests in Tokyo, it faces challenges of trust, regulation, a꧙nd freeway navigation. Yet, with 10 million trips behind it, Waymo is proving that autonomous driving isn’t ✅science fiction—it’s a present reality reshaping urban mobility.