U.S. Senate grills Waymo over offshore labor, China ties
CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES — During a United States Senate hearing, Waymo, a provider of driverless technology, was found to rely on remote human operators in the Philippines, and its plans to use vehicles from a Chinese automaker sparked sharp bipartisan criticism.
According to a Business Insider report, Senators labeled the offshore labor “completely unacceptable“. They raised national security concerns, turning a policy discussion on autonomous vehicles into a tense interrogation of the Alphabet-owned company’s practices.
“Having people overseas influencing American vehicles is a safety issue,” Senator Ed Markey stressed.
Waymo’s offshore support sparks safety, job fears
The hearing showed that there is a fundamental conflict in how Waymo works: its self-driving cars are autonomous but do not always need human control.
Chief Safety Officer Mauricio Peña asserted that the remote workforce delivers this input even in tough situations and that they are not driving the vehicle; they are giving advice.
Nonetheless, he admitted that this labor force is not 100% domestic, noting that some of its operators are in the U.S. and others in the Philippines.
This confession prompted immediate and violent counteractions from legislators, who described the problem as a twofold failure in security and domestic employment.
Senator Markey argued that having critical safety personnel overseas poses a risk, as they may need to intervene “in a split second” in dangerous situations but are not in the U.S.
“The information the operators receive could be out of date. It could introduce tremendous cyber security vulnerabilities. We don’t know if these people have U.S. driver’s licenses,” Senator Markey warns in a Facebook Live published by PBS NewsHour.
Furthermore, senators connected this operational choice to economic displacement, accusing Waymo of replacing American taxi and rideshare jobs only to ship the remaining human roles overseas.
Senator Markey adds, “It’s one thing when a taxi is replaced by an Uber or Lyft. It’s another thing when the jobs just go completely overseas.”
Senators challenge ‘backdoor’ ties to Chinese supply chain
In addition to its work, Waymo was subject to extensive scrutiny of its vehicle sources and the geopolitical implications of its supply chain. The company also affirmed its co-operation with one of Geely’s Chinese subsidiaries, Zeekr, to assemble vehicles for its robotaxis.
This was directly refuted by Senator Bernie Moreno, who argued that Waymo was taking a backdoor approach to circumvent federal regulations that prohibit the use of foreign-affiliated technology in sensitive connected vehicle systems.
“You said in your testimony that we’re locked in a race with China, but it seems like you’re getting in bed with China,” Senator Moreno said.
Peña defended the choice, stating that the Chinese-made vehicles have “no connectivity” and that their driving systems are installed in the U.S., emphasizing the need for a resilient global supply chain to scale quickly.
This justification was met with skepticism, as senators reframed the company’s own warnings about competition with China against the company itself.
The hearing highlighted a broader industry anxiety, noting that the U.S. is “locked in a race” with China for autonomous vehicle dominance, even as Waymo’s procurement strategy appeared to some lawmakers to contradict that defensive posture.
