The "boast about numbers" wasn't from Waymo, it was from their investors, and it was earlier this month and not during the service suspension.

What do you mean no answer? They are suspending their operations. That is their answer.

Read more carefully, Waymo didn’t boast about their numbers and that part of the story was unrelated to the issue except as a measure of impact their shutdown could have.

Because they are currently trying to raise money at 100bn valuation