February 6, according to foreign media reports, after several technology giants announced layoffs, Google’s parent company Alphabet also announced plans to cut about 12,000 people on January 20, accounting for about 6 percent of their 190,000 employees worldwide.
Latest reports in the foreign media, a week after Alphabet announced the layoffs, its independently operated self-driving technology company, Waymo, also laid off some of its employees.
According to reports from the media, Waymo has not announced the exact number of layoffs, but a spokesperson for the company has confirmed that they laid off some employees that week, involving several of its departments.
In addition, at least 24 employees, disclosed on Collage that they were fired by Waymo, involving positions such as perception, systems and software engineers, fleet maintenance professionals, and systems integration.
However, the foreign media also disclosed in the report that although some employees were laid off, Waymo’s goals for this year will still not be affected, although there is a delay in the plan to adopt the self-driving truck division, and a company spokesperson also confirmed a slight delay in the internal schedule.
The foreign media also mentioned in the report that Waymo One, a self-driving commercial passenger service, will remain their focus in the short term, and this service has previously been approved to operate in Phoenix, Arizona, without a safety driver.
The layoffs at Waymo will not affect the size of the fleet either, as a company spokesperson has revealed that there will be no reduction in either test vehicles or vehicles for commercial services and that their fleet currently has more than 700 vehicles and more than 2,000 employees.
