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Posted on the 30th January 2026 in PHTM News

THE DIRTY SECRET OF DRIVERLESS TAXIS

Waymo's 2,500-vehicle car fleet requires 2.25 -2.5 full-time humans per vehicle just to operate — after buying the car and paying Magna to up-fit it.

NO DRIVER - BUT PLENTY OF PEOPLE

Waymo employs ~3600 staff and relies on 2,000-2,500 subcontractors for charging, cleaning, maintenance and depot operations.

KEY PARTNERS:

Moove • Avis • Transdev • Uber • Lyft • AutoNation

Waymo’s long-term goal is one human per 100 vehicles

Todays reality is closer to one human per vehicle per shift

Uber’s model is brutally simple:

one driver = one car = one human

Cleaning, maintenance and downtime sit with the driver not Uber

Over a 300,000 miles of a vehicles life, Waymo’s cost per mile appears to be nearly double of Ubers

• +$75K vehicle cost

• Electricity ≈ 35 -40mpg - eg California

• Jaguar I-PACE running costs > average Uber car

•  Extra power for autonomy systems

• Climate control running while idle - hello Phoenix summers

Waymo wins strategically NOT because its cheaper BUT because it is willing to lose billions

Passengers increasingly choose no human interaction when prices are close.

THAT'S THE REAL DISRUPTION

Data compiled from Gemini, Grok, Google & ChatGPT.

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