Tag Archives: Driverless Vehicles

Krafcik Leaves Waymo After Five Years as CEO

John Krafcik NADA 2018

Waymo CEO John Krafcik is way gone, announcing his departure and the company’s plans to move the current COO and CTO into the role of co-CEO.

Add “former” to the title of Waymo CEO John Krafcik, who announced today he’s left the company.

The former Hyundai Motor America chief spent five years heading up the autonomous vehicle subsidiary of Google, which, according to his farewell on LinkedIn, “was called ‘Chauffeur’ internally.”

Tekedra Mawakana and Dmitri Dolgov, of whom Krafcik said “having seen their brilliance, vision, and commitment in play for years — I assure you they are very well suited for this,” take over as co-CEOs of the Mountain View, Calif.-based AI-focused company. As is often the case with senior executives, Krafcik will stay on in an advisory capacity.

“So now, with the fully autonomous Waymo One ride-hailing service open to all in our launch area of Metro Phoenix, and with the fifth generation of the Waymo Driver being prepared for deployment in ride-hailing and goods delivery, it’s a wonderful opportunity for me to pass the baton to Tekedra and Dmitri as Waymo’s co-CEOs,” he wrote.

Next steps

Waymo co CEO Tekedra Mawakana

Waymo named former COO Tekedra Mawakana as its new co-CEO to replace Krafcik.

Krafcik didn’t offer many details what the future holds, although it could be that he’s uncertain himself. He said he and his wife, Leila, will take a “coupbatical,” which he described as “a refresh period where we look forward to reconnecting with old friends & family, and discovering new parts of the world.

“After that, we’ve got a few ideas for focus and contribution that we’ll flesh out together and share when the time is right. We’ve already relocated to Austin, Texas, and we look forward to seeing some of you there, or on our travels.”

Krafcik once headed up Hyundai’s U.S. operations, helping lead the brand through an image renaissance and a period of rapid growth. He even earned the “Automotive Executive of the Year” in 2013. However, his run there ended in late 2013 after the South Korean automaker declined to renew his contract — despite the accolade.

However, he quickly landed on his feet, taking over as CEO of TrueCar just as the automotive sales and data website was readying to go public. His tenure there was short, however, as he moved on to Waymo, then-Google’s self-driving car project, just a little more than a year later in September 2015.

Dynamic duo

Waymo coCEO Dmitri Dolgov

Waymo CTO Dmitri Dolgov joins Mawakana as co-CEO with Krafcik’s departure.

As for the company, Mawakana and Dolgov now step into new roles. Previously the COO and CTO respectively, they are described as having “complementary skill sets and experiences.” Due to the nature of their roles, they’re already accustomed to working together.

Dolgov, who started in autonomy as part of Stanford’s DARPA Urban Challenge team, joined the company in 2009, when it was still referred to as Google’s self-driving car project. Over time, his influence and responsibility grew. He became CTO late in 2016.

Mawakana, joined­­ Waymo as a policy lead. Prior to joining the company in 2017, she led global policy teams at eBay, AOL, Startec and Yahoo, after beginning her career as Washington, D.C.-based law firm Steptoe & Johnson LLP.

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GM Confirms Cuts at Cruise Automation

GM CEO Mary Barra said the company would be eliminating some jobs at its Cruise Automation subsidiary.

Cruise Automation is cutting some employees, but the company remains tightly focused on its objective of developing self-driving vehicles, GM Chairman Mary Barra said during a web conference.

Barra confirmed earlier reports from California that Cruise would be eliminating some jobs. “It was a very prudent action,” Barra said. The cuts will not involve any technical staff dedicated to the company’s mission of developing self-driving vehicles, she said.

“They’ve grown very quickly,” she said. “The employees were working in non-technical areas.”

(Cruise gets okay to carry passengers in California.)

GM’s San Francisco-based Cruise subsidiary will lay off about 160 people.

Cruise, a wholly owned subsidiary of General Motors, employs about 2,000 workers, largely in the San Francisco Bay Area and about 160 or about 8% of the company work force will be laid off. Those affected will receive transitionary assistance and health care benefits for the remainder of the year, according to an email from Cruise CEO Dan Ammann.

Barra said the COVID-19 pandemic underscores the importance of autonomous vehicle research. “It’s a huge opportunity to show people the kind of vehicle they are going to want in the future,” she said.

The autonomous vehicles can be used to provide clean, safe transportation complete with private spaces that are inherently safer than a vehicle with a human driver. They also can be used to deliver packages, she said.

(GM retains faith in its electric future during pandemic.)

“We are full speed ahead,” she said during the event, which was sponsored by Bank of America, and touched on several topics relevant to GM right now.

GM has burned between $7 billion and $9 billion during the shutdown.

Dhivya Suryadevara, GM executive vice president and chief financial officer, said the shutdown of the company’s operations due to the coronavirus pandemic has led to a substantial “cash burn” of between $7 billion and $9 billion for the second quarter and a loss of as much as $2 billion.

Nevertheless, GM’s strong balance sheet has enabled it to maintain an investment grade credit rating. The investment grade credit rating is very important to GM, Suryadevara said.

(General Motors bucks the trend and turns a small Q1 profit.)

GM recently sold $4 billion unsecured bonds and add to its $2 billion to its revolving line of bank credit to shore up its balance sheet and cash reserves, she said.