Waymo has a first-to-market advantage in autonomous ride services
I’ve been writing articles about autonomous vehicles on Seeking Alpha for almost two years, and I continue to believe that 2021 will be the year for the introduction of autonomous vehicles (AVs). It is now very clear that the first market opportunity for AVs will be Autonomous Ride Services ((ARS)) and not AVs sold at retail. It is now also clear that Waymo (GOOG) (GOOGL) will be the first to market and can establish substantial competitive advantages. In this article, I’ll explain why ARS is coming within a year, refresh my projections of the ARS market, explain Waymo’s strategy, highlight the strategies of potential competitors, and consider the significance of its first-to-market competitive advantages. First, let’s review autonomous ride services and its market opportunity.