In a statement the outfit said that it had decided to focus on ride-hailing and push back the timeline on our commercial and operational efforts on trucking, as well as most of our technical development on that business unit.

"We'll continue our collaboration with our strategic partner, Daimler Truck North America, to advance technical development of an autonomous truck platform," the company said.

The move comes as Alphabet having a financial shake-up.It promoted Chief Financial Officer Ruth Porat to president and chief investment officer, saying that it will stick to the more thrifty culture she has instilled.

Self-driving technology has taken a step back in the past several years. Autonomous ventures like Waymo have spent billions of dollars in capital only to bring in little, if any revenue. Waymo has made more progress monetising its robotaxi business than it has in trucking.