In a surprise Friday announcement, Alphabet’s self-driving car business, Waymo, revealed that John Krafcik plans to step down as CEO after five and a half years. In his place, the company will be led by two Co-CEOs Tekedra Mawakana and Dmitri Dolgov.
Once Krafcik steps down he will take time to refresh, reconnect with old friends and family, and discover new parts of the world. However, that doesn’t mean he will leave the company entirely as he plans to stay on as an Advisor as it builds out its robotaxi and autonomous delivery services.
In a note to the self-driving technology pioneer’s employees, Krafcik called Mawakana and Dolgov an “incredibly talented pair who are ideally suited for this moment.” He went on to say the two leaders bring complementary skill sets and experiences and have worked closely together as COO and CTO, respectively.
Mawakana first joined Waymo in March 2017 as the company’s Global Head of Policy and most recently served as COO. Before becoming part of the self-driving technology venture she started her career at the DC-based law firm Steptoe & Johnson and led global teams across five continents at various internet and tech companies including eBay.
Dolgov is one of the autonomous vehicle venture’s earliest employees, joining in 2009 before it was even called Waymo. As the company's’s CTO, he has led the development of its fully autonomous tech stack. Before he joined Waymo he worked on autonomous driving efforts at Toyota and Stanford University.
In their own note, Mawakana and Dolgov said, “As we start this next chapter together, we could not be more excited and grateful to have the opportunity to lead this team and company as your co-CEOs. We’re committed to working alongside you to build, deploy, and commercialize the Waymo Driver and drive the success of our incredible team and this company. We’re energized by the road and opportunity ahead of us.”
In recent years and months, Waymo has steadily been advancing the capabilities of its autonomous public ride-hailing service, Waymo One, and autonomous delivery product, Waymo Via. Currently, Waymo One is offering fully autonomous services in the East Valley area of Phoenix, Arizona. Together the Co-CEOs will continue to drive Waymo’s technical and business leadership in the rapidly advancing autonomous industry.
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