chandler alphabet incs waymo risks losing its lead in the us race to prove robotaxis are a viable business as it sticks to a limited service and rivals backed by automakers near their own launches companies including ford motor cos argo ai and general motors cos cruise are competing for the billions of dollars in financing needed to automate driving through artificial intelligence software and expensive sensors waymo has led the field in the first and only fully driverless taxi service in the country waymo has driven thousands of people since opening a year ago east of phoenix to anyone who downloads its ridehailing app and since august hundreds in san francisco have trialed cabs with safety drivers aboard but waymo lacks investment from a major automaker which analysts say could hamper efforts to grow its fleet plans waymo touted in 2018 to buy up to 62000 chrysler pacifica minivans and 20000 jaguar ipace suvs have not materialized a big order for cameras to give eyes to its vehicles was scaled back a person familiar with the matter said partnership talks in the past with automaker hyundai motor co also fell through another source said waymos ridehailing service in arizona has not expanded beyond suburbs it inquired about permitting for phoenix airport rides in 2018 but has not pursued the process or approached san franciscos airport at all according to government records obtained by reuters waymo cars still have lessons to learn some mall dropoffs in arizona seen by reuters blocked access to disabled parking spots for minutes in what disability advocates described as a potential legal violation raj rajkumar professor of electrical and computer engineering at carnegie mellon university said high staffing costs also could contribute to waymos slow expansion riders in arizona told reuters that support crews in person or monitoring remotely have had to redirect vehicles paralyzed by among other sights freight pallets an errant stop sign and roadpaving gear waymo has a different view partnerships with several automakers from around the world rather than investment from just one serve what it describes as unparalleled ambitions across trucking grocery delivery and more waymo said it has met all production goals introduced hundreds of ipace crossovers it would make little sense to place a bet on an individual oem equipment maker that would increase our risk and give us fewer future paths to market the company said the future of autonomy is about much more than ridehail services at the reuters next conference last week waymo coceo tekedra mawakana said the company was in a robust phase of not only developing the technology but also developing commercial opportunities theres a lot that goes into doing this the first time she said then you build a playbook and its just much easier to replicate it in future cities waymo recently began testing in central phoenix though without riders it said personnel costs are not a determining factor in plans and its system tries to avoid pulling over in