Advanced technology isn’t just automating tasks in the white collar world—AI agents and robots are flipping burgers, stocking warehouses, and even doing household chores. Driverless taxis have also entered the mainstream, despite job loss fears from gig workers. But the leader of autonomous vehicle (AV) business Waymo insists the tech isn’t taking human work.
“Now that we’ve been in a few markets for a few years, it’s great to be able to see that we haven’t eliminated jobs in those markets,” Waymo’s co-CEO, Tekedra Mawakana, recently told The New York Times.
The $126 billion behemoth of industry, which started out as Google’s self-driving car project, has understandably raised eyebrows from human drivers. It’s the largest AV company in the U.S., serving at least 10 cities with around 3,000 robotaxis and counting. And as more companies including Tesla and Amazon-owned Zoox enter the arena, ride-hailing workers are put on edge.
Even the CEO of Uber himself believes that most of his company’s rides could have a robot behind the wheel in the next couple of decades.
Humans will be needed to rotate tires and operate fleets in the era of self-driving cars
Waymo’s co-CEO says the shift to driverless will open up new jobs. Instead of being in the driver’s seat, humans will be behind the scenes of the whole operation, fulfilling operational and blue-collar business needs.
And to support the workforce of the future, Waymo is funding tuition scholarships for U.S. technicians, and partnered with Bronx Community College in creating an automotive technology program.
“Humans are still rotating those tires and working on those vehicles,” Mawakana continued. “We have fleet operators, we have fleet technicians. All of our fleets are fully electric. Those charging companies are building the infrastructure, putting them in city centers, pulling those wires from the utility company.”
Justin Kintz, the global head of public policy at Waymo, tells Fortune that the business’ investments in infrastructure and growing services “create opportunities for Americans of all backgrounds, by bringing a wide variety of new, non-college and trades-work roles to communities around the U.S.”
Robotaxis will have an impact on human drivers—but will strengthen blue-collar work
Automated cars are on the rise, much to the dismay of human drivers and passengers who get stuck navigating the errors of the new technology.
It’s projected that the U.S. robotaxi market will grow from 1,500 in 2025 to around 35,000 in 2030—around a 90% compounded annual growth rate, according to a 2025 Goldman Sachs report. The automated services could account for 8% of the total American ride-share market in just a few short years.
It’s only natural for drivers to fear for their future careers, especially as they see AI gut company workforces and swipe the jobs of thousands of white-collar employees. About 85% of people believe that the rollout of driverless cars will lead to job losses, and another 70% felt unsure of the technology or that it’s a bad idea for society, according to a recent University of California San Diego analysis of Pew Research Center data.
And industry leaders like Uber chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi have sounded the alarm that the majority of the business’ trips will be “fulfilled by robots of some kind” within 20 years. However, when one door closes, another one opens.
It’s projected that in deploying 9 million AVs over the next 15 years, more than 114,000 new jobs in AV production, distribution, maintenance, upgrades, and repairs will be created, according to a 2024 study from Chamber of Progress. Humans won’t be totally left out of the process; companies will need about 190 workers to manufacture and service the cars, for every 1,000 AV created and deployed each year.
The co-founder and CEO of $15.2 billion “super-app” company Grab, Anthony Tan, announced it would be rolling out robobuses in its headquarter city of Singapore this year. But in lockstep with making a large investment in driverless technologies, the business is also considering how to upskill human drivers in the shift. And just like Waymo, the company recognized a few work opportunities for people, including vehicle maintenance and data analysis.
“We see new kinds of jobs emerging,” Tan said in a 2025 Q&A with analysts. For example, drivers could be remote safety drivers, data labelers; they could change LiDARs, cameras, and so forth.”
