Waymo keeps foot on the autonomous vehicle pedal with $16B funding

At the same time as builders of humanoid robots and synthetic intelligence profit from investor curiosity, autonomous automobiles present little signal of slowing down. Waymo LLC yesterday stated it has raised $16 billion, bringing its valuation to $126 billion.

The Mountain View, Calif.-based firm stated it plans to make use of the funding to deliver its Waymo Driver to extra cities throughout the U.S. and the world. Waymo just lately introduced autonomous ride-hailing service to San Francisco International 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 stated it plans to deliver self-driving automobiles 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. It is usually on the lookout for staffers for its operations and provide chain, product and design, AI, and normal and administrative groups.

Waymo touts security file regardless of current 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 absolutely autonomous operation—the equal of going to the moon and again over 260 occasions—we’ve got achieved a 90% discount in critical harm crashes,” it stated. “That is the direct results of a driver that’s by no means affected by the main causes of highway 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 current incidents confirmed that it’s very tough to utterly get rid of accidents.

Simply final week, the Nationwide Freeway Site visitors Security Administration opened an investigation into an incident wherein 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 automobiles (AVs) didn’t cease for varsity buses.

In Could 2025, the corporate up to date 1,212 robotaxis to deal with dangers of collisions with chains, gates, and different roadway boundaries. Waymo cited its rising mileage in autonomous operations as proof that its expertise is secure and that its companies have gotten important.

“In 2025 alone, we greater than tripled our annual quantity to fifteen million rides, surpassing 20 million lifetime rides so far,” it stated. “Right this moment, with greater than 400,000 rides supplied each week throughout six main U.S. metropolitan areas, we’ve got demonstrated that our expertise is not only probably the most superior manifestation of AI within the bodily world, however an important service that individuals have come to depend on of their each day lives.”

Funding to gasoline the subsequent 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. guardian firm Alphabet Inc. The buyers stated that Waymo’s lead in getting operational information 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,” said Jared Intermediary, a accomplice at Dragoneer. “We’ve got 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 workforce, and the whole Waymo group, who’re poised to completely change how individuals and items transfer via communities across the globe.”

“As a expertise 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 accomplice at Sequoia. “Waymo is an distinctive enterprise, leveraging its compounding information 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, contributors 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,” stated Saurabh Gupta, co-founder of DST International. ‘It’s saving lives already, with considerably fewer critical harm crashes in comparison with human drivers.”

Different current fundings of AV builders embrace:

• $1 billion for Waabi
• $600 million for Utilized Instinct
• $430 million for Motional
• $375 million for Avride
• $203 million for Nuro (along with $106 million earlier in 2025)

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