infrastructureScore 65/100Research
Google Cloud's restrictive ToS explicitly prohibits autonomous vehicle development; creates opening for competitor cloud providers in AV training infrastructure
George Hotz· Comma.ai· Robotics· 2026-06-27· about Google (GOOGL)
“Google is not even an option. uh their TPUs are only available in Google Cloud. Uh Google has absolutely ownorous terms of service restrictions. Uh they may have changed it, but back in Google's terms of service, it said explicitly you are not allowed to use Google Cloud ML for training autonomous vehicles or for doing anything that competes with Google without Google's prior written permission.”
Why it matters
Google's contractual restrictions on autonomous vehicle training create regulatory and market access barriers for AV startups, effectively forcing reliance on NVIDIA GPUs or alternative cloud providers.
Investment implication
AWS, Azure, and alternative cloud providers benefit from AV developers unable to use Google Cloud. NVIDIA's near-monopoly on AV training infrastructure is reinforced. Custom silicon solutions (Tesla Dojo, Intel Gaudi, Cerebras) become more attractive.