Toyota takes aim at Elon Musk's Tesla

In the last 10 years, an exciting new technology has made big waves in the automotive world.

That’s autonomous driving, also called full-self driving (FSD) by Tesla CEO Elon Musk. He was the first person to make headway in the space, starting to talk about the technology as far back as 2015. 

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While his promises about autonomous driving technology didn’t materialize as soon as he originally promised, Tesla did introduce FSD’s first beta in 2020 for a limited user group, and finally rolled it out to all users in 2022.

Related: Google’s Waymo is planning a move that’s downright creepy

That said, the FSD service drew attention over time for its high incidence of accidents, leading the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to open an investigation into Tesla and the technology in Oct. 2024. 

In the meantime, Alphabet has also been making inroads into the autonomous driving space with Waymo, it’s own self-driving service, which it smartly made available via Uber in mid-2022. Waymo recently announced plans to expand into Austin in June 2025.

Now a major new player is stepping into the space in partnership with Waymo — and it looks threatening for Elon Musk.

Waymo wants to bring self-driving to your vehicle

Toyota and Waymo made a joint announcement on April 29 that the two companies would be partnering up for a fascinating new venture indeed: bringing robotaxi tech to consumer vehicles.

Woven by Toyota will also join the potential collaboration as “Toyota’s strategic enabler,” according to a press release, contributing its strengths in “advanced software and mobility innovation.”

The announcement goes on to say that the two companies intend to build a new autonomous vehicle platform, which they promise will “enhance next-generation personally owned vehicles (POVs).”

Related: Toyota’s latest EV is designed to take Elon Musk by surprise

One interesting point about the announcement is the strong emphasis it places on safety.

“Toyota is committed to realizing a society with zero traffic accidents and becoming a mobility company that delivers mobility for all,” Hiroki Nakajima, Member of the Board and Executive Vice President of Toyota Motor Corporation, said in the press release.

“We share a strong sense of purpose and a common vision with Waymo in advancing safety through automated driving technology, and we are confident this collaboration can help bring our solutions to more people around the world, moving us one step closer to a zero-accident society. Our companies are taking an important step toward a future with greater safety and peace of mind for all.”

No timeline for the launch of the new platform was announced in the release.

Alphabet puts new pressure on Elon Musk

Musk has openly made dozens of promises about his robotaxi fleet (“Cybercabs”), and many have believed him and invested in the technology, such as high-profile investor Cathie Wood.

New reporting suggests that Musk shut down robotaxi research internally after learning that it would be slow to produce profit for the company, with Rohan Patel, head of business development and policy for Tesla, saying, “We had lots of modeling that showed the payback around FSD [Full Self Driving] and Robotaxi was going to be slow. It was going to be choppy. It was going to be very, very hard outside of the U.S., given the regulatory environment or lack of regulatory environment.”

Musk reacted by nixing development on Tesla’s $25K budget model and pushing forward on the Cybercab. But now Tesla may have halted its orders for Cybercab parts, according to a new report from Teslarati, as the parts would be sourced from China, where tariffs are currently at 145%.

Now as Toyota moves into the space with Waymo’s years of experience in its arsenal, Musk has a big, new problem to worry about — on top of bringing back Tesla from its biggest decline in history, that is.

Related: Driverless taxi company and Uber share huge expansion plans

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