Alphabet to Invest $5B in Driverless Taxi Company, Waymo
Last week, Google parent company, Alphabet, announced additional investment into self-driving car company- Waymo. The new Alphabet-Waymo investment will enable the autonomous vehicle company to continue building its brand as a global leader in self-driving cars.
According to CNBC, Alphabet will be investing $5 million dollars in Waymo over the next couple of years.
A Vote of Confidence
Ruth Porat, Alphabet’s Chief Technology Officer broke the news as the company released its quarter two financial results.
Noting that Waymo is a vital example of Alphabet’s long-term investments, Porat said, “This new round of funding will enable Waymo to continue to build the world’s leading autonomous driving company.”
The autonomous vehicle company sees the additional Waymo-Alphabet investment as a vote of confidence in its innovation
“Alphabet has committed up to $5B to Waymo. We are grateful for their immense vote of confidence in our team and recognizing the amazing progress we’ve made with our technology, product, and commercialization efforts,” Tekedra Mawakana, Waymo CEO posted on X.
Previous Funding
Waymo first attracted external funding in 2020 when it raised $2.25 billion. Since then, the company raised an additional $2.5 billion in a 2021 funding round that was backed by AutoNation, Fidelity Management and Research Company, Andreessen Horowitz among others.
Alphabet announced Waymo’s new investment just days after Tesla postponed its plan to launch its robotaxi, Cybercab. The electric vehicle manufacturer pushed the launch from the month of August to October this year.
The Waymo Approach
Waymo has been making self-driving car technology for more than a decade. Initially, the project was known as the Google self-driving vehicles project. Original entries were made in the 2005 Stanford and 2007 DARPA Grand Challenges.
Waymo spun-off from Alphabet to become a standalone firm in 2016. In 2017, Waymo ordered electric Jaguar I-Paces and hybrid Chrysler Pacifica minivans. The company knitted these models with its autonomous driving hardware and sensors. Around the same time, Waymo started testing its self-driving technology with an electric vehicle developed by Zeekr.
Widening Losses
Collectively, Alphabet’s investments, including Waymo, generated $365 million in quarter two revenue. This represents a $285 million increase from last year’s revenue. However, Waymo losses increased from $813 million to $1.13 billion over the same period.
During the earnings call, Alphabet’s CEO, Sundar Pichai said that Waymo offers 50,000 paid trips each week in Phoenix and San Francisco. So far, the company has completed 2 million trips.
The additional Alphabet-Waymo investment comes soon after General Motors announced that it was delaying production of its self-driving shuttle that it designed for cities indefinitely.
Last month, Waymo recalled 672 self-driving cars after one of its driverless taxis hit a hole in Phoenix. The company has already filed 17 reports of autonomous taxi crashes.
