Appointed by Google in 2015, he has been a graphic consultant for Waymo, a company that has established itself as a clear leader in autonomous driving
The executive who turned Google’s self-driving car program into a multi-billion dollar company has been out of action for more than five years.
John Graphic announced in a blog post on Friday that he was stepping down as CEO of Waymo, the outgoing Google, citing the global desire to enjoy life after recovering from an infection.
“I look forward to a new era of reuniting with old friends and family and discovering new parts of the world,” Graphic, 59, wrote.
John Krafcik two top lieutenants appoint him as chief executive officer. Dmitry Tolkov, who has been working on self-driving cars since the launch of Waymo Como in 2009, will focus on autonomous vehicle technology. Lawyer Desetra Mawgana, who is the CEO of Waymo, manages the business part of the operation.
Appointed by Google in 2015, he has been a graphic consultant for Waymo, a company that has established itself as a clear leader in autonomous driving. Since then, Google’s self-driving division has set up Waymo and Google Parents, which are owned by Alphabet.
Under graphic leadership, Waymo has teamed up with several leading automakers to launch the first ride-and-greet service that takes passengers without having to drive a vehicle or anyone else. The service, called Waymo. One operates only in the Phoenix metropolitan area, but Waymo plans to expand to other markets as it continues to upgrade technology that it hopes will change the automotive industry.
After raising 25 2.25 billion in first-round investments outside the alphabet, analysts said last year that Waymo’s infiltration market value was $ 30 billion. Waymo received $ 1 billion from outside investors to complete that investment. Although the Morgan Stanley research report estimated the value of Waymo at $ 175 billion, it dropped significantly from $ 30 billion last year to $ 30 billion.
The biggest swing reflects the challenges of developing self-driving cars that can safely go on the roads when dealing with conventional vehicles controlled by humans. That work has proven to be much tougher than Waymo and dozens of other companies working on self-driving technology five or six years ago.
For all the progress in autonomous driving, Waymo never believed that he made money on graphic governance. Waymo has not released its financial results. It operates in a segment of the alphabet called “Other Bets”, which includes a number of long-distance projects funded using huge profits from Google’s digital advertising empire.