Waymo is increasing robotaxi service to San Francisco Worldwide Airport and extra cities. Supply: Waymo
Whilst builders of humanoid robots and synthetic intelligence profit from investor curiosity, autonomous autos present little signal of slowing down. Waymo LLC yesterday mentioned it has raised $16 billion, bringing its valuation to $126 billion.
The Mountain View, Calif.-based firm mentioned it plans to make use of the funding to deliver its Waymo Driver to extra cities throughout the U.S. and the world. Waymo lately introduced autonomous ride-hailing service to San Francisco Worldwide Airport.
Prior to now 12 months, Waymo has rolled out robotaxis in Austin, Detroit, Las Vegas, and San Diego. It started testing in Atlanta, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, St. Louis, Miami, New Orleans, Minneapolis, Tampa, New York, Tokyo, and Washington, D.C., and it mapped Boston. The corporate additionally mentioned it plans to deliver self-driving vehicles to London, in addition to Dallas, Houston, Orlando, and San Antonio this 12 months.
Waymo is hiring for 249 open software program engineering positions and 31 {hardware} engineer positions. Additionally it is in search of staffers for its operations and provide chain, product and design, AI, and common and administrative groups.
Waymo touts security file regardless of latest incidents
“This milestone is constructed on a basis of security that’s now statistically superior to human driving,” asserted Waymo.
Waymo says autonomous driving has been confirmed safer than handbook operations. Supply: Waymo, by way of Instagram
“Throughout 127 million miles of totally autonomous operation—the equal of going to the moon and again over 260 occasions—we’ve achieved a 90% discount in critical harm crashes,” it mentioned. “That is the direct results of a driver that’s by no means affected by the main causes of street tragedy, together with distraction, impairment, and fatigue.”
A December 2024 examine with insurer Swiss Re in contrast the Waymo Driver with human baselines, discovering a discount of 88% in property harm claims and a 92% discount in bodily harm claims. That could be a vital discount, however latest incidents confirmed that it’s very tough to utterly remove accidents.
Simply final week, the Nationwide Freeway Site visitors Security Administration opened an investigation into an incident through which a toddler was struck as she ran throughout the road from behind a double-parked SUV. In December 2025, Waymo recalled its software program after a number of of its autonomous autos (AVs) did not cease for varsity buses.
In Might 2025, the corporate up to date 1,212 robotaxis to handle dangers of collisions with chains, gates, and different roadway boundaries. Waymo cited its rising mileage in autonomous operations as proof that its know-how is protected and that its providers have gotten important.
“In 2025 alone, we greater than tripled our annual quantity to fifteen million rides, surpassing 20 million lifetime rides to this point,” it mentioned. “At this time, with greater than 400,000 rides offered each week throughout six main U.S. metropolitan areas, we’ve demonstrated that our know-how isn’t just probably the most superior manifestation of AI within the bodily world, however a significant service that folks have come to depend on of their each day lives.”
Funding to gasoline the following lap in AV race
Dragoneer Funding Group, DST International, and Sequoia Capital led Waymo’s newest funding spherical, along with help from Waymo and Google Inc. dad or mum firm Alphabet Inc. The traders mentioned that Waymo’s lead in getting operational knowledge will assist it keep forward within the AV commercialization race.
“Waymo has not solely taught a automotive to drive itself, however to take action meaningfully higher than any human or competing system, and we consider that lead will endure,” acknowledged Jared Intermediary, a associate at Dragoneer. “We now have studied autonomous driving for over a decade and couldn’t be extra excited to again Tekedra [Mawakana, co-CEO], Dmitri [Doglov, co-CEO], the formidable engineering staff, and the complete Waymo group, who’re poised to completely change how folks and items transfer via communities across the globe.”
“As a know-how chief within the trillion-dollar transportation market, Waymo has moved past analysis milestones to attain operational excellence, tripling its weekly paid rides in only one 12 months whereas sustaining buyer delight,” famous Konstantine Buhler, a associate at Sequoia. “Waymo is an distinctive enterprise, leveraging its compounding knowledge benefit to usher in a brand new period of transportation and a security tradition that may save hundreds of thousands of lives.”
Waymo additionally obtained vital investments from Andreessen Horowitz and Mubadala Capital in addition to Bessemer Enterprise Companions, Silver Lake, Tiger International, and T. Rowe Worth. As well as, members included BDT & MSD Companions, CapitalG, Constancy Administration & Analysis Firm, GV, Kleiner Perkins, Perry Creek Capital, and Temasek.
“Waymo has introduced autonomous driving from science fiction to actuality,” mentioned Saurabh Gupta, co-founder of DST International. ‘It’s saving lives already, with considerably fewer critical harm crashes in comparison with human drivers.”
Different latest fundings of AV builders embrace:
