How Tesla and Waymo’s radically different robotaxi approaches will shape the industry

A month after Tesla launched a trial robotaxi service in Austin, Texas, in June for select fans, CEO Elon Musk told investors that the company’s driverless taxis would likely be available to “half the population of the US” by the end of this year.

Alphabet’s Waymo – the US leader in autonomous ride-hailing – launched a similar test service in Phoenix more than eight years ago. Today, it operates in areas with about 3% of the US population.

Musk’s pronouncements about expanding Tesla’s robotaxis at a “hyper-exponential rate” stand in contrast to Waymo’s…