Autonomous driving company Waymo has secured an additional $16 billion in funding, strengthening its push to scale self-driving ride-hailing services globally as competition intensifies from rivals backed by Tesla and Amazon. The latest capital raise, announced on Monday, places Waymo’s valuation at $126 billion.
The funding round highlights growing investor appetite for exposure to the rapidly expanding robotaxi market and reflects the progress Waymo has made since it began as a long-term experimental initiative within Google 17 years ago. Just five years ago, analysts estimated the company’s valuation at approximately $30 billion following a series of fundraising efforts.
Alphabet Inc., Waymo’s parent company, led the investment round, alongside a group of prominent venture capital firms and institutional investors. Alphabet currently has a market capitalization of nearly $4.2 trillion. The substantial increase in Waymo’s valuation is expected to further fuel ongoing speculation that the company could eventually pursue an initial public offering as part of a potential spin-off from Alphabet, although no such plans have been formally announced.
In a blog post, Waymo said the newly raised capital will be used to expand its robotaxi services beyond the six metropolitan areas where it currently operates. At present, Waymo provides fully autonomous rides in select cities across California, Arizona, Georgia, Texas, and Florida. The company is preparing to enter more than 20 additional cities, including international markets such as London and Tokyo.
Waymo stated that its robotaxi fleet already delivers more than 400,000 rides per week, underscoring the scale it has achieved in commercial autonomous mobility.
“We are positioned to move forward with unprecedented velocity, while maintaining our industry-leading safety standards,” Waymo said in the post.
Despite its progress, Waymo’s autonomous vehicles have not been without challenges. While the fleet has generally maintained a strong safety record, isolated incidents have prompted community concerns and regulatory scrutiny in some operating regions, reflecting the broader complexities facing the deployment of driverless transportation at scale.
The latest funding round reinforces Waymo’s position as one of the most highly valued private technology companies globally and underscores the intensifying race to commercialize autonomous ride-hailing services as competitors accelerate their own development efforts.
