Rachel Warren

It's possible, but certainly right now they're the leader in this space.

But hey, it didn't cost us too much, right?

Yeah, I think you made the point perfectly, Travis, because that's the approach Waymo has taken.

And I think it has been incredibly effective.

They have really prioritized developing the most advanced and safest technology first, aiming for level four and five autonomy.

And that really means you're focusing on robust systems that are designed for a commercial ride hailing service or safety is paramount.

And then costs can be amortized over a fleet rather than individual buyers, at least initially.

And the bet there is that once the technology is proven, mass production will naturally bring costs down.

If you reverse the strategy there, you can very much end up in a situation where there are key safety concerns, which inflate your costs over time anyway.

And I think that's been one of the problems we've seen with Tesla's approach.

I'm not saying that they can't win in the game eventually.

And it's worth noting, Waymo does have an advantage for a few reasons.

It originated from Google's self-driving project almost two decades ago.

There's that advantage of being a part of the Alphabet family.

But I think a lot of it goes back to their

And even though Tesla has really said, look, we want to prioritize getting the technology into consumers' hands at a lower price point using that cost-first tech incremental strategy, so far that approach isn't really bearing out.

I mean, we've been hearing the promises of what Tesla's technology is going to be where it pertains to autonomous vehicles for over a decade.

And so far, it's been a very slow journey.

Can they catch up?

Absolutely.