Outpacing Tesla globally?
Waymo boosts war chest in robotaxi race
Waymo’s robotaxis now complete more than 400,000 paid passenger trips per week.
Waymo
In a fresh funding round, Waymo has secured significant new capital to support its robotaxi ambitions. The Google sister company could further extend its lead in the race with Tesla for autonomous ride-hailing services.
As competition intensifies over the future
market for driverless robotaxis, Waymo is strengthening its financial
position to support global expansion. In the latest funding round, the company
raised USD 16 billion (approximately EUR 13.5 billion) from investors.
According to the company, this values Waymo at a total of USD 126 billion.
Waymo’s robotaxis now complete more than 400,000 paid
passenger trips per week, operating fully autonomously without a human driver
at the wheel. The service is currently available in six US cities as well as in
Silicon Valley. At the same time, Waymo is pushing
ahead with international expansion and has already deployed vehicles in
London and Tokyo. Overall, Waymo vehicles have driven around 127 million miles
(approximately 204 million kilometres) autonomously.
Prominent investors back Waymo’s strategy
The funding round attracted strong backing from prominent
technology investors, who underlined Waymo’s operational maturity, safety
performance and long-term impact. “As a technology leader in the trillion
dollar transportation market, Waymo has moved beyond research milestones to
achieve operational excellence,” said Konstantine Buhler, Partner at Sequoia.
He highlighted Waymo’s compounding data advantage and safety culture, which he
believes can help save millions of lives, and pointed to plans to expand the
Waymo Driver to 20 additional cities and beyond.
“Waymo has brought autonomous
driving from science fiction to reality. It’s saving lives already, with
significantly fewer serious injury crashes compared to human drivers,” said
Saurabh Gupta, co-founder of DST Global. As Waymo scales in 2026 and beyond, he
expects autonomous driving to boost productivity and accessibility for millions
while improving road safety worldwide and reshaping cities.
Having studied autonomous driving for more than a decade,
Dragoneer believes Waymo’s lead will endure and fundamentally change how people
and goods move through communities around the globe.
Key facts
- Waymo raised USD 16 billion in a new funding round, valuing the company at USD 126 billion and strengthening its position for global robotaxi expansion.
- The company currently operates more than 400,000 paid autonomous rides per week across six US cities and Silicon Valley, with additional deployments already underway in London and Tokyo.
- While Waymo relies on a multi-sensor approach combining cameras and LiDAR, competitor Tesla is pursuing a camera-only strategy, fuelling an ongoing debate over cost efficiency, safety and regulatory approval in autonomous driving.
Tesla relies on camera-based perception
Competitor Tesla is taking a more cautious approach. So far,
the company has deployed only a limited number of driverless robotaxis in the
Texan city of Austin, where they were until recently accompanied by safety
supervisors in the passenger seat. Nevertheless, Tesla CEO Elon Musk has
repeatedly stated that Tesla aims to become the number one player in autonomous
driving and robotaxis within a few years.
Musk’s strategy centres on enabling mass-produced vehicles
to drive fully autonomously. In addition, Tesla plans to build a robotaxi
without a steering wheel or pedals from this year onwards. Unlike Waymo and
other developers, Tesla intends to rely exclusively on camera-based perception
and does not use additional sensors such as LiDAR.
Competitors and industry experts question whether a
camera-only approach can deliver the required level of safety. Waymo and other
autonomous driving developers typically combine cameras with additional
sensors, particularly laser radar, to detect and interpret their surroundings.
However, if Musk’s approach proves successful, Tesla could gain a significant
cost advantage over its rivals.
