Dear Waymonauts,

After five and a half exhilarating years leading this team, I’ve decided to depart from my CEO role with Waymo and kick-off new adventures. To start, I’m looking forward to a refresh period, reconnecting with old friends and family, and discovering new parts of the world. And I’ll continue to serve as an advisor to Waymo, as you expand the world’s first autonomous public ride-hailing service, Waymo One, and ramp our autonomous delivery product with Waymo Via.

Road safety is a major, global public health crisis. More than 1.3 million people die on the world’s roads every year, according to WHO. That’s more people than die from HIV/AIDS, and is equivalent to a passenger plane’s worth of people crashing every single hour—or one death every 30 seconds.

Editor’s note: We love seeing our Waymo One riders share their experience with the world. After catching this video of one of Jesse’s recent rides, we reached out to him to get more info on how it went. In the Phoenix area and want to experience a fully autonomous ride for yourself? Just download the Waymo app and hail one instantly!

Waymo’s story starts in the San Francisco Bay Area. Since early 2009, when we completed our first 1,000 autonomous miles across California, we’ve driven the length and breadth of the region, becoming intimately familiar with the many unique challenges of driving in San Francisco and the surrounding area.

This month, we’re recognizing Black History Month, an annual celebration of the experiences and contributions of Black and African Americans who have shaped and strengthened our country. This year, more than ever, we uphold the responsibility to recognize and highlight the importance of amplifying Black voices.

Earlier this month, we teamed up with Girl Scouts of Northeast Texas (GSNETX) to transport cookies for the annual Girl Scout Cookie Program with our Waymo Via truck fleet. Girl Scouts has long encouraged girls at every age and from all different backgrounds to explore science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields through their girl-centric programming. And at Waymo, we need a diverse group of people to develop the Waymo Driver and deliver on our mission, so we look for opportunities to open these dialogues with younger generations who will forge the future of autonomous driving technology.