After getting a hefty $5.6 billion in fresh capital last week, Alphabet’s autonomous driving unit Waymo is now reported to be valued at more than $45 billion.
Automotive News reported that the latest round of financing led by Google-owned Alphabet included outside investors. Alongside an expanded partnership with Uber, the influx of cash will help the company expand its Waymo-One robotaxi service in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Phoenix, and beyond, delivering more than 150,000 paid trips each week.
Waymo has come to symbolize progress in the self-driving space, after years of setbacks with the technology and a host of PR problems. For one, earlier this year, a Waymo robotaxi hit a cyclist in San Francisco – luckily that cyclist had only minor injuries.
Still, a big part of its success has been the financial backing of its parent company Alphabet. Wamyo is part of Alphabet’s “Other Bets” portfolio of business, which includes Verily, which itself reported $388 million in third-quarter revenue.
As for Waymo, Alphabet also added another $5 billion to the pot this past June, to be distributed over the next few years. Waymo also aims to expand into new markets in Austin and Atlanta via its new partnership with Uber. How it’ll work is similar to how Waymo operates in San Francisco and other cities, with no safety driver in the front seat.
Waymo has said it is averaging 100,000 paid trips a week, a tenfold jump compared to last year. The company has also begun fully autonomous freeway operations in Phoenix and San Francisco and is testing its systems in Buffalo, New York, and Washington, DC.
According to Automotive News, Waymo’s co-CEOs Tekedra Mawakana and Dmitri Dolgov said existing investors participating in the recent funding include Andreessen Horowitz, Fidelity, Perry Creek, Silver Lake, Tiger Global, and T. Rowe Price.
Of course, Waymo faces some likely competition from Tesla, which announced its self-driving Cybercab robotaxi at its We, Robot event. Tesla already offers a ride-hailing service for its Bay Area employees, but the company relies on safety drivers for now.
