In the escalating battle for dominance in autonomous ride-hailing, former Waymo CEO John Krafcik has thrown a sharp critique at Tesla’s latest moves in San Francisco. During a recent interview, Krafcik dismissed Tesla’s deployment of Model Y vehicles as robotaxis, arguing that the presence of a human employee inside disqualifies them from being truly driverless. “It’s (rather obviously) not a robotaxi if there’s an employee inside the car,” he told Business Insider, highlighting what he sees as a fundamental gap in Tesla’s approach compared to Waymo’s fully autonomous operations.

This commentary comes amid Tesla’s aggressive push into the market, with recent reports indicating the company has begun supervised robotaxi services in the city, complete with safety drivers. Industry observers note that while Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (FSD) software has advanced, it still relies on human oversight in complex urban environments like San Francisco’s hilly streets and dense traffic.

The Rivalry Heats Up in Urban Mobility

Krafcik’s remarks underscore a longstanding rivalry. As the architect of Waymo’s early successes, he pointed out that Tesla has yet to demonstrate revenue-generating, fully autonomous rides—a feat Waymo achieved years ago in cities like Phoenix and now San Francisco. According to posts on X, Tesla’s rollout in San Francisco this weekend features Model Ys with front-seat safety drivers, a step toward broader testing but one that echoes Krafcik’s skepticism about true autonomy.

Meanwhile, Waymo continues to expand, adding Dallas to its roster of operational cities including San Francisco, Los Angeles, Austin, Phoenix, and Atlanta by 2026, as reported by WardsAuto. This positions Alphabet’s subsidiary as the current leader, with thousands of driverless rides daily, while Tesla navigates regulatory hurdles and software refinements.

Tesla’s Ambitious Roadmap and Challenges

Elon Musk has long touted Tesla’s robotaxi vision, unveiling the Cybercab prototype last year and promising mass production by Q4 2025. X users, including accounts like Tesla Owners Silicon Valley, have buzzed about launches in Austin since June 2025, where initial fleets of 10-20 Model Ys operate on unsupervised FSD in limited zones. However, Krafcik, in an earlier Business Insider piece, argued Tesla lacks the sensor suite and mapping depth needed for reliable urban autonomy.

Critics like Krafcik also question Tesla’s cost structure. Musk has dismissed Waymo’s high expenses—citing lidar sensors and custom vehicles—as barriers to scale, but Krafcik called such concerns “trivial” in an April 2025 Business Insider response, emphasizing Waymo’s decade-long data advantage. Tesla’s strategy hinges on leveraging its existing fleet and over-the-air updates, potentially disrupting incumbents like Uber, which faces pressure as autonomous options erode its driver-based model.

Implications for Uber and the Broader Industry

For Uber, the stakes are high. With Tesla eyeing a 50% robotaxi market reach by year’s end, as hinted in X discussions, traditional ride-hailing could see fares drop dramatically due to lower operational costs. Uber has partnered with AV firms but lags in proprietary tech, per Yahoo Finance reports on Krafcik’s doubts about faked autonomy demos.

Looking ahead, regulatory green lights in California and Texas signal acceleration, but safety incidents could stall progress. Krafcik’s perspective, echoed in Electrek, frames Tesla’s efforts as a decade of hype without delivery, yet Musk’s ecosystem—from Optimus robots to energy—might yet tip the scales.

Navigating the Path to Full Autonomy

Insiders predict that by 2030, robotaxis could capture 30-40% of urban transport, with Tesla’s production ramps for Cybercab and Model Q vehicles poised to flood high-demand areas like San Francisco. X sentiment reflects optimism, with users sharing snapshots of surging rideshare prices that autonomous fleets could undercut.

Yet, challenges persist: Tesla’s vision-only approach contrasts with Waymo’s multi-sensor redundancy, raising questions about edge-case handling in fog or construction zones. As Krafcik told Automotive World, Tesla has “failed utterly and completely” for 10 years in matching Waymo’s operational maturity. The true test will be unsupervised, revenue-positive rides at scale— a milestone that could redefine mobility or expose ongoing gaps.