Waymo, the autonomous car unit of Google’s mother or father company, Alphabet, stated John Krafcik is stepping down as chief government after 5 and a half years at the helm.
In an announcement, Waymo stated the chief government duties will be divided between two present company executives — Tekedra Mawakana and Dmitri Dolgov. Ms. Mawakana was Waymo’s chief working officer, and Mr. Dolgov was the company’s chief expertise officer earlier than the promotion.
In a blog post announcing the move, Mr. Krafcik, 59, didn’t specify a motive for why he was stepping down at this second different than to say he was pursuing “new adventures.” Waymo stated it was Mr. Krafcik’s determination and that he plans to stay an adviser to the company.
Mr. Krafcik, a longtime auto trade government who oversaw Hyundai Motor’s U.S. operations, joined Waymo in 2015 when it was nonetheless half of Google. During his tenure, Google spun out Waymo right into a separate subsidiary of Alphabet, and the company raised more than $three billion from outdoors traders in a transfer that signaled a larger independence from its mother or father company.
Google and Waymo have pursued self-driving car expertise for more than a decade. Waymo has launched its personal autonomous taxi service in the larger Phoenix space referred to as Waymo One, and the company has struck partnerships with a handful of car producers, together with Volvo and Jaguar Land Rover, to construct its self-driving expertise into their automobiles.
Ms. Mawakana joined Waymo 4 years in the past as the world head of coverage and has been the company’s working chief for the final two years. Before that she labored in coverage positions at eBay, Yahoo and AOL.
Mr. Dolgov is one of the unique staff who began Google’s self-driving car mission in 2009 and is taken into account one of the main technical consultants in autonomous car expertise.
