Image: Waymo
Waymo is doubling down on its lead in autonomous ride-hailing. According to the Financial Times, Alphabet’s self-driving subsidiary has finalized a massive $16 billion funding round that values the company at roughly $110 billion, more than doubling its valuation from its last raise just over a year ago.
The round is being led overwhelmingly by Alphabet itself, which is contributing more than three-quarters of the capital, but it also brings in a heavyweight mix of new and existing investors. New backers reportedly include Dragoneer, Sequoia Capital, and Yuri Milner’s DST Global, while Andreessen Horowitz and Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth fund Mubadala are putting in additional capital. The funding was said to be three times oversubscribed, underscoring strong investor appetite despite the capital intensity of autonomous driving.
Waymo’s scale is a big part of the story. The company currently operates more than 2,000 autonomous vehicles across five U.S. cities and claims to deliver around 450,000 paid robotaxi trips per week. In December, Waymo officially surpassed 20 million fully autonomous, paid rides since launch, at which point it was already reported to be eyeing a raise at around a $100 billion valuation. This new round pushes that figure even higher.
Financially, Waymo is also starting to look more mature. The company’s annual recurring revenue has reportedly climbed past $350 million, fueled by growing ride volumes in cities like San Francisco, Los Angeles, Phoenix, and Miami. Waymo says it expects to reach 1 million rides per week later this year as it continues to expand.
That expansion comes amid intensifying competition. Tesla, Waymo’s closest rival, recently began piloting fully unsupervised Robotaxi rides with no driver or safety monitor onboard in Austin, Texas. While Waymo leads in operational scale and regulatory approvals, Tesla is aggressively undercutting on price, even as it plays catch-up on availability and real-world experience.
Waymo is also pushing beyond the U.S., with expanded testing across more American cities and international launches planned, including a fully driverless service in London. With fresh capital in hand and global ambitions accelerating, Waymo is clearly positioning itself to stay ahead in what’s shaping up to be a high-stakes, winner-takes-most robotaxi race.
