Waymo, a subsidiary of Alphabet (GOOG, GOOGL), has been working on self-driving cars for years. But now rivals, such as Tesla (TSLA), are starting to catch up. Yahoo Finance Senior Autos Reporter Pras Subramanian takes a closer look at Waymo's rise and the competition.

When Tesla’s robotaxis hit the streets of Austin, they could find themselves driving alongside other autonomous vehicles operated by Alphabet-owned Waymo and Amazon-owned Zoox. Both have been testing their driverless cars on the city’s roads for some time, with Waymo now offering rides to paying customers.

A Tesla robotaxi driving without a human behind the wheel has been spotted on the streets of Austin, Texas, according to a video posted on X on Tuesday and reshared by Tesla CEO Elon Musk, as the company prepares to launch a highly anticipated robotaxi service as soon as this week.

The two approaches could not be more different, in ways that suggest different possible futures for what autonomous vehicles mean for society. That kind of progress hasn’t come cheap. Google parent company Alphabet has sunk billions into the technology,

Here’s some breaking news: the 2026 Tesla Model Y ‘Juniper’ with Full Self Driving (FSD) is a robotaxi. Waymo may have met its match.

The vehicle was spotted operating on public roads in Austin, Texas, featured in a post on X. A video shared by Sawyer Merritt showed the Model Y with Tesla's new "Robotaxi" wordmark on its side and no one in the driver's seat.