Big Tech has it in for taxi drivers

The biggest driverless taxi operator in the world says it's doubled its number of paid-for rides to 100,000 per week in the space of three months. Waymo, owned by Alphabet, Google's parent company, operates 700 vehicles in Phoenix, San Francisco, LA and (soon) Austin – a fleet that will grow quickly if a $5 billion investment announced last month by its parent company bears fruit. The taxis are heavily modified Jaguar i-pace electric cars with a "Driver" that "never gets drunk, tired or distracted". Alphabet's pockets are so deep it can create a driverless taxi market by brute force if customer demand doesn’t do the job organically. One competitor who'll be grateful either way is the ubiquitous Musk. His fellow shareholders in Tesla have been vexed by his focus on “autonomy” over producing an electric car that ordinary people can actually afford. Waymo gives him cover as well as competition.