Did Waymo lose $2 billion last quarter?
Published . Updated . Waymo Lost $2 Billion. Tesla's Cybercabs Are Waiting.
What is the short answer?
No. Alphabet reported a $2.047 billion operating loss for Other Bets, the segment that includes Waymo, for the quarter ended September 30, 2026. Alphabet says Other Bets is a combination of operating segments that are not individually material. The $2.047 billion figure is not a Waymo-only loss. Other Bets revenue in the quarter was $372 million. On the October 28 earnings call, Alphabet's chief executive said Waymo had driven more than 300 million fully autonomous miles and operates in 15 major U.S. cities. A Texas registry check on October 28 counted 1,080 authorized Tesla robotaxis. A November 1 snapshot counted 1,259 Waymo vehicles and 1,244 Tesla vehicles. Those lists are authorizations, not cars giving rides.
Research and education, not investment advice. Brighter Finance is not affiliated with Tesla, SpaceX or Elon Musk.
What did the episode report?
Each line is a news item stored with this episode. The date is the day the video was published. Timing words in a line are copied from the episode.
Alphabet's Q3 2026 supplemental filing lists an Other Bets operating loss of $2.047 billion for the quarter ended September 30, 2026, compared with $1.426 billion a year earlier. Other Bets revenue was $372 million, compared with $344 million. Alphabet says Other Bets is a combination of multiple operating segments that are not individually material, and that its revenue comes primarily from autonomous transportation services and internet services. The loss is the segment total. It is not a Waymo-only result.
Source: Alphabet Q3 2026 exhibit, SECPlay this moment on YouTube
In remarks published from the October 28, 2026 earnings call, Alphabet chief executive Sundar Pichai said Waymo had driven more than 300 million fully autonomous miles and now operates in 15 major U.S. cities, with recent public service in San Antonio, San Diego, and Tampa. Those are company statements about miles and cities. They are not the Other Bets operating loss.
We've now driven more than 300 million fully autonomous miles.
Source: Alphabet, October 28, 2026Play this moment on YouTube
Benzinga reported a November 1, 2026 snapshot of Texas automated-vehicle records at 1,244 Tesla vehicles and 1,259 Waymo vehicles, a gap of 15. The episode, published October 31, compared a Tesla roster of 1,080 with a Waymo roster of 1,259. Benzinga's later snapshot still showed Waymo at 1,259. Benzinga said the registration figures do not show how many vehicles were carrying paying passengers. The October comparison and the November 1 snapshot are not the same day.
A check of Texas DMV records published October 28, 2026 counted 1,080 vehicles authorized for Tesla Robotaxi LLC: 573 Cybercabs and 507 Model Ys. That is the 1,080 figure the October 31 episode used. The check says the list is authorized vehicles, not cars carrying riders, and it is not split by city.
NHTSA's special order in Audit Query AQ26002 asks Tesla to explain how the Cybercab was certified without conventional driver controls. A review of the order says the response deadline was extended to October 30, 2026, and that the order compels information rather than finding that the car fails a standard. The episode said Tesla's answers were not public when the program was recorded. This note does not say whether a response was public after that date.
The episode compared one Houston pair of rides, about $18 in a Tesla vehicle and almost $32 in a Waymo vehicle, with pickups a few minutes apart. That is one pair of trips from the episode. It is not an average fare, and it is not the Other Bets loss.
On a Munro Live tour published October 26, 2026, a member of the Tesla team said the Cybercab line is not run every day because it is outpacing robotaxi deployments. Cars that are built ahead of deployment are not the same thing as cars already giving rides, and they are not an explanation of Waymo's segment accounting.
Source: Munro Live, October 26, 2026Play this moment on YouTube
From the show discussion
These lines restate points from the show discussion. They are not a Brighter Finance forecast, and they are not investment advice.
- The discussion argued that an Other Bets operating loss is not a result for one business inside that segment.
- The discussion argued that miles a company reports and vehicles a state lists are different counts.
- The discussion argued that a safety agency's request for information is not a finding that a vehicle fails a standard.
- The discussion argued that one pair of ride prices is not an average fare.
Where is the video?
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