A Waymo rider-only robotaxi is seen during a test ride in San Francisco, California, U.S., December 9, 2022.
Paresh Dave | Reuters
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.
At stake is a share of a massive market for ride-hailing services in and beyond the U.S. According to research by Fortune Business Insights, the global ride-sharing market is projected to grow from an estimated $123.08 billion in 2024 to $480.09 billion by…
