Waymo raises $16 billion to fund global expansion

Waymo, the self-driving taxi company owned by Alphabet, said on Monday that it had raised $16 billion to fuel plans for global expansion and that the funding round valued the company at about $126 billion, according to the announcement. The round was led by Dragoneer Investment Group, DST Global and Sequoia Capital, in addition to Alphabet, the announcement said.

A spokeswoman for Waymo declined to comment on the news and pointed to the posted announcement. Waymo said it would use the money to fuel growth plans, including rolling out its commercial service and road testing with a safety driver in more than 20 cities this year, according to the announcement.

The company said it “more than tripled” its volume of rides last year to 15 million. Waymo launched its robot taxi service in Phoenix in 2020 and has expanded to San Francisco, Atlanta, Los Angeles, Miami and Austin. Its driverless cars operate using artificial intelligence software and multiple sensors and have become omnipresent in San Francisco, the report said.

In recent months Waymo has been planning to increase its presence across the United States and internationally in places such as London and Tokyo. The company also recently expanded Bay Area service to include rides on the highway as far south as San Jose, about 40 miles away, and last week began offering some rides to San Francisco International Airport with a larger rollout planned in the coming months as the region prepared to host major events.

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