Waymo, the driverless ride-hailing arm of Google parent company Alphabet, has now launched a new AI research model for its self-driving operations.
In a pair of press releases on its approach to AI and its new end-to-end multimodal model for autonomous driving, dubbed EMMA, Waymo has shared details about its plans for the AI research model going forward. The company says it is still using the EMMA model in research stages, rather than in operational vehicles, and the approach comes as an alternative that looks a lot like Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (FSD) and other end-to-end model approaches.
“EMMA is research that demonstrates the power and relevance of multimodal models for autonomous driving,” said Drago Anguelov, VP and Head of Research at Waymo. “We are excited to continue exploring how multimodal methods and components can contribute towards building an even more generalizable and adaptable driving stack.”
Waymo says the EMMA model uses real-world knowledge based on its Gemini language model, while the end-to-end approach is expected to eventually let autonomous vehicles operate directly from sensor data and real-time driving scenarios. The company has also highlighted its use of Large Language Models (LLMs) and Vision-Language Models (VLMs), calling its architecture the Waymo Foundation Model.
Hear the company’s executive detail the Waymo research and AI program more below.
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EMMA research and criticisms
In the announcement press release about EMMA, Waymo lays out the following as key aspects of the research program:
- End-to-End Learning: EMMA processes raw camera inputs and textual data to generate various driving outputs including planner trajectories, perception objects, and road graph elements.
- Unified Language Space: EMMA maximizes Gemini’s world knowledge by representing non-sensor inputs and outputs as natural language text.
- Chain-of-Thought Reasoning: EMMA uses chain-of-thought reasoning to enhance its decision-making process, improving end-to-end planning performance by 6.7% and providing interpretable rationale for its driving decisions.
“The problem we’re trying to solve is how to build autonomous agents that navigate in the real world,” says Srikanth Thirumalai, Waymo VP of Engineering. “This goes far beyond what many AI companies out there are trying to do.”
Still, some have cast doubt on the large-scale end-to-end model, saying that it may be too risky to utilize generative AI models without including significant safeguards.
“It’s bandwagoning around something that sounds impressive but is not a solution,” said Sterling Anderson, Aurora Innovation’s Chief Product Officer, in a statement to Automotive News.
Mobileye CTO Shai Shalev-Shwartz called end-to-end approaches “a huge risk,” especially regarding the verification of decision-making process for vehicles operating on the model. It’s also worth noting that Waymo is currently only researching the approach, and it doesn’t currently have any plans to make it commercially available.
-->The news comes after Waymo recently closed on a $5.6 billion funding round, effectively bringing the company’s valuation up past $45 billion. The company is also working on its next generation of self-driving vehicles based on the Hyundai Ioniq 5, built at a new factory in Georgia.
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Tesla is improving Giga Berlin’s free “Giga Train” service for employees
With this initiative, Tesla aims to boost the number of Gigafactory Berlin employees commuting by rail while keeping the shuttle free for all riders.
Tesla will expand its factory shuttle service in Germany beginning January 4, adding direct rail trips from Berlin Ostbahnhof to Giga Berlin-Brandenburg in Grünheide.
With this initiative, Tesla aims to boost the number of Gigafactory Berlin employees commuting by rail while keeping the shuttle free for all riders.
New shuttle route
As noted in a report from rbb24, the updated service, which will start January 4, will run between the Berlin Ostbahnhof East Station and the Erkner Station at the Gigafactory Berlin complex. Tesla stated that the timetable mirrors shift changes for the facility’s employees, and similar to before, the service will be completely free. The train will offer six direct trips per day as well.
“The service includes six daily trips, which also cover our shift times. The trains will run between Berlin Ostbahnhof (with a stop at Ostkreuz) and Erkner station to the Gigafactory,” Tesla Germany stated.
Even with construction continuing at Fangschleuse and Köpenick stations, the company said the route has been optimized to maintain a predictable 35-minute travel time. The update follows earlier phases of Tesla’s “Giga Train” program, which initially connected Erkner to the factory grounds before expanding to Berlin-Lichtenberg.
-->Tesla pushes for majority rail commuting
Tesla began production at Grünheide in March 2022, and the factory’s workforce has since grown to around 11,500 employees, with an estimated 60% commuting from Berlin. The facility produces the Model Y, Tesla’s best-selling vehicle, for both Germany and other territories.
The company has repeatedly emphasized its goal of having more than half its staff use public transportation rather than cars, positioning the shuttle as a key part of that initiative. In keeping with the factory’s sustainability focus, Tesla continues to allow even non-employees to ride the shuttle free of charge, making it a broader mobility option for the area.
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Tesla Model 3 and Model Y dominate China’s real-world efficiency tests
The Tesla Model 3 posted 20.8 kWh/100 km while the Model Y followed closely at 21.8 kWh/100 km.
Tesla’s Model 3 and Model Y once again led the field in a new real-world energy-consumption test conducted by China’s Autohome, outperforming numerous rival electric vehicles in controlled conditions.
The results, which placed both Teslas in the top two spots, prompted Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun to acknowledge Tesla’s efficiency advantage while noting that his company’s vehicles will continue refining its own models to close the gap.
Tesla secures top efficiency results
Autohome’s evaluation placed all vehicles under identical conditions, such as a full 375-kg load, cabin temperature fixed at 24°C on automatic climate control, and a steady cruising speed of 120 km/h. In this environment, the Tesla Model 3 posted 20.8 kWh/100 km while the Model Y followed closely at 21.8 kWh/100 km, as noted in a Sina News report.
These figures positioned Tesla’s vehicles firmly at the top of the ranking and highlighted their continued leadership in long-range efficiency. The test also highlighted how drivetrain optimization, software management, and aerodynamic profiles remain key differentiators in high-speed, cold-weather scenarios where many electric cars struggle to maintain low consumption.
Xiaomi’s Lei Jun pledges to continue learning from Tesla
Following the results, Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun noted that the Xiaomi SU7 actually performed well overall but naturally consumed more energy due to its larger C-segment footprint and higher specification. He reiterated that factors such as size and weight contributed to the difference in real-world consumption compared to Tesla. Still, the executive noted that Xiaomi will continue to learn from the veteran EV maker.
“The Xiaomi SU7’s energy consumption performance is also very good; you can take a closer look. The fact that its test results are weaker than Tesla’s is partly due to objective reasons: the Xiaomi SU7 is a C-segment car, larger and with higher specifications, making it heavier and naturally increasing energy consumption. Of course, we will continue to learn from Tesla and further optimize its energy consumption performance!” Lei Jun wrote in a post on Weibo.
-->Lei Jun has repeatedly described Tesla as the global benchmark for EV efficiency, previously stating that Xiaomi may require three to five years to match its leadership. He has also been very supportive of FSD, even testing the system in the United States.
Elon Musk
Elon Musk reveals what will make Optimus’ ridiculous production targets feasible
Musk recent post suggests that Tesla has a plan to attain Optimus’ production goals.
Elon Musk subtly teased Tesla’s strategy to achieve Optimus’ insane production volume targets. The CEO has shared his predictions about Optimus’ volume, and they are so ambitious that one would mistake them for science fiction.
Musk’s recent post on X, however, suggests that Tesla has a plan to attain Optimus’ production goals.
The highest volume product
Elon Musk has been pretty clear about the idea of Optimus being Tesla’s highest-volume product. During the Tesla 2025 Annual Shareholder Meeting, Musk stated that the humanoid robot will see “the fastest production ramp of any product of any large complex manufactured product ever,” starting with a one-million-per-year line at the Fremont Factory.
Following this, Musk stated that Giga Texas will receive a 10 million-per-year unit Optimus line. But even at this level, the Optimus ramp is just beginning, as the production of the humanoid robot will only accelerate from there. At some point, the CEO stated that a Mars location could even have a 100 million-unit-per-year production line, resulting in up to a billion Optimus robots being produced per year.
Self-replication is key
During the weekend, Musk posted a short message that hinted at Tesla’s Optimus strategy. “Optimus will be the Von Neumann probe,” the CEO wrote in his post. This short comment suggests that Tesla will not be relying on traditional production systems to make Optimus. The company probably won’t even hire humans to produce the humanoid robot at one point. Instead, Optimus robots could simply produce other Optimus robots, allowing them to self-replicate.
-->The Von Neumann is a hypothetical self-replicating spacecraft proposed by the mathematician and physicist John von Neumann in the 1940s–1950s. The hypothetical machine in the concept would be able to travel to a new star system or location, land, mine, and extract raw materials from planets, asteroids, and moons as needed, use those materials to manufacture copies of itself, and launch the new copies toward other star systems.
If Optimus could pull off this ambitious target, the humanoid robot would indeed be the highest volume product ever created. It could, as Musk predicted, really change the world.
Tesla is improving Giga Berlin’s free “Giga Train” service for employees
Tesla Model 3 and Model Y dominate China’s real-world efficiency tests
