Enlarge / A customized Waymo minivan being shown off at the 2017 North American International Auto Show in Detroit. (credit: Bill Pugliano / Getty Images)
When will the Alphabet layoffs end? Layoffs are always hard, but usually you want to do these things in one big cleave, letting employees know the cuts are over so they can stop worrying and get back to work. Google had its initial big set of layoffs in January, when it cut 12,000 jobs, and employees were supposed to be quickly told of the cuts once that announcement was made. It's March now, and more cuts are still trickling in. Last week, Alphabet's "Everyday Robots" subsidiary was shut down, and the entire staff was laid off. This week Waymo is going through a second round of layoffs.
Reuters reports the self-driving car company has cut another 137 staff members, bringing the total cuts at the Alphabet subsidiary to 8 percent this year, or 209 total employees. Waymo said the cuts would let it “focus on commercial success,” something that has escaped Waymo previously.
Waymo has been around for 14 years now, but it hasn't had much in the way of "commercial success." It is absolutely the leader in self-driving car technology, and reaching a point where it could be widely rolled out would make Waymo an incredible amount of money. It could revolutionize trucking, disrupt Uber and Lyft—which have to pay drivers—and could result in a ton of licensed technology deals with car manufacturers. Getting there is a long road with no end in sight, though.
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