I read that as meaning even the scaled robotaxi service (Waymo) does not throw off enough cash to offset the loss of Tesla's vehicle sales unit. (The putative Tesla buyer they are dissuading from purchase would have to take a whole lot of robotaxi trips to generate the same amount of profit for Tesla. Assuming Tesla can get robotaxis working.)

In the 2000s publishing pivot to the Internet, this was known as "trading physical dollars for digital pennies."

Such is the law of the falling rate of profit, a general tendency of Capitalism.

>They haven't said it explicitly.

This seems to be a major strategic decision of Alphabet pretty much across the board. I have only recently noticed the stark contrast to the constant hype trope you see in their competitors.