Alphabet's Waymo Looks to Raise $16B at $110B Valuation

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Alphabet Inc.'s self-driving car company Waymo LLC is looking to raise around $16 billion through a new funding round that would increase its valuation to approximately $110 billion. The majority of the funding is expected to come from Alphabet itself, with the tech giant contributing $13 billion. Other prominent investors like Dragoneer, Sequoia Capital, DST Global, Andreessen Horowitz, and Mubadala are also expected to participate.

Why it matters

Waymo is the clear leader in the autonomous vehicle industry, with its robotaxis logging over 125 million miles of fully self-directed driving on American roads. This new funding round will allow the company to further expand its robotaxi service to additional U.S. cities as well as international locations like London and Tokyo, solidifying its position as a dominant player in the self-driving car market.

The details

Waymo's robotaxis use a mix of cameras, lidar sensors, and comprehensive street maps to navigate, qualifying as 'level four autonomous' vehicles that can operate without any driver present. The company aims to provide one million trips per week this year across multiple metropolitan areas. While Waymo has faced some incidents like vehicles stalling during power outages, it has not caused any fatalities unlike its rival Tesla, whose autonomous vehicles are only 'level two' and still require human oversight.

• Waymo was born out of Google's self-driving car project in 2016.
• Waymo launched its first paid robotaxi service without a safety driver in 2022.
• Waymo plans to expand its robotaxi service to additional U.S. cities and international locations like London and Tokyo in the coming years.

What’s next

Waymo plans to expand its robotaxi service to additional American cities, including New York City, as well as international locations such as London and Tokyo.