Waymo's new chip keeps the robocar ahead of Tesla

Waymo's been quietly designing its own custom silicon for the past year or so. The goal is to keep the autonomous fleet running without depending on off-the-shelf parts — specifically to stay ahead of Tesla, whose FSD stack has been making headlines. The chip isn't in a car yet. Waymo is still testing the platform and plans to roll it into the fleet once it's ready.

What's interesting is the move itself. Designing custom chips for autonomous driving is expensive and takes time — but once it's done, you've got a moat. Waymo's cars need heavy compute for perception and planning, and the faster and more efficient that chip is, the more the fleet can do per watt. Tesla's been doing the same thing with its in-house AI silicon. Both companies are racing toward the same end: a car that doesn't need a human driver and doesn't need a supplier to keep it moving.

Why this matters for us: as these systems mature, the hardware that runs them will be locked in by two big players — and the people who actually ride in the cars won't have a say in what's under the hood.