After five and a half years, John Krafcik is stepping down as CEO of Waymo, Alphabet Inc.’s self-driving unit. Current COO Dmitri Dolgov and current CTO Tekedra Mawakana will take the helm at Waymo as co-CEOs.
Waymo was launched as an independent Alphabet subsidiary, partnered with a group of OEM, supplier, and service companies. It raised its first external investment round of $3.25 billion in May, 2020.
Writing in a blog, he says: ‘My time leading Waymo has been the capstone of my career. Together, we’ve achieved remarkable firsts as we develop, deploy, and commercialize our fully autonomous Waymo Driver, and work to make our roads safer and mobility more accessible’.
He adds: ‘The Waymo Driver has driven autonomously tens of millions of miles on public roads across 25 U.S. cities, and more than 20 billion miles in simulation; safely gets anyone in Phoenix with the Waymo One app to their destinations across thousands of miles each week; and is unlocking convenience and scale for our local delivery and freight partners through Waymo Via’.
Dmitri and Tekedra, write: ‘As we start this next chapter together, we could not be more excited and grateful to have the opportunity to lead this team and company as your co-CEOs. We’re committed to working alongside you to build, deploy, and commercialize the Waymo Driver and drive the success of our incredible team and this company. We’re energized by the road and opportunity ahead of us’.
Krafcik says he will continue to serve as an advisor to Waymo.
