Alphabet's (GOOGL, Financial) autonomous driving subsidiary, Waymo, has surpassed a $45 billion valuation following the completion of a massive $5.6 billion funding round. This is the largest funding round in the company's history, aimed at expanding its self-driving taxi services beyond Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Phoenix.
The recent funding was led by Alphabet, with participation from notable investors such as Andreessen Horowitz, Fidelity, Perry Creek, Silver Lake, Tiger Global, and T. Rowe Price. This latest round brings Waymo's total funding to $11.1 billion, following previous rounds of $3.2 billion and $2.5 billion.
Waymo is currently at the forefront of the autonomous taxi industry, offering over 150,000 weekly rides through its Waymo One app in its operational cities. This represents more than a twofold increase since May. Additionally, Waymo has partnered with Uber to plan the rollout of self-driving taxi services in Austin and Atlanta next year, focusing on vehicle testing and operations.
By securing external capital, Alphabet is better equipped to navigate potential regulatory challenges in the autonomous driving sector. However, Waymo faces competition from rivals like Tesla (TSLA), which plans to mass-produce its Cybercab by 2026 and launch self-driving services in Texas and California by 2025. Amazon's (AMZN) Zoox also intends to deploy autonomous taxis in San Francisco and Las Vegas in the coming weeks, with plans for large-scale production by 2026.
