It’s only the beginning of the year and US autonomous driving technology company Waymo has made yet another employee layoff, the firm told Reuters.

The company, which is better known by its former name Google Self-Driving Car Project, has suffered a second round of layoffs, this time bringing the total number of staff laid off to 209 people, or 8%.

Investors and industry observers are troubled by the billions of dollars that have been poured into the self-driving technology sector in a short period of time to commercialize it.

However, this is not the only company that has taken such measures.

In January, Alphabet said it would cut 12,000 jobs, affecting a large number of employees who support experimental projects.

In addition, Verily Life Sciences also laid off more than 200 employees, or about 15% of its workforce.

The trend of layoffs continues to grow, including Rivian Automotive, General Motors, Meta Platforms and other U.S. companies reaching for these measures in an attempt to cut costs amid the looming recession.