Waymo is a company.
Waymo has raised $16.0B across 1 funding round.
Key people at Waymo.
Waymo has raised $16.0B in total across 1 funding round.
Waymo is valued at approximately $1.3B.
Key people at Waymo.
Waymo has raised $16.0B in total across 1 funding round.
Waymo is valued at approximately $1.3B.
Waymo's investors include Alphabet, Dragoneer Investment Group, DST Global, Sequoia Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, BDT & MSD Partners, Bessemer Venture Partners, CapitalG, Fidelity, Google Ventures, Kleiner Perkins, Mubadala Capital.
Waymo is an Alphabet subsidiary developing autonomous driving technology, operating the world's first commercial fully self-driving robotaxi service, Waymo One. It builds self-driving systems for vehicles optimized for autonomy, serving ride-hailing passengers in cities like Phoenix, San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles, Atlanta, and Austin, while addressing road safety by reducing traffic fatalities and improving mobility access.[1][4][6] The service solves transportation challenges like human error in driving—responsible for thousands of annual deaths—by providing safe, inclusive, driverless rides, with over 450,000 weekly rides as of December 2025 and 25+ million autonomous miles driven.[4][5]
Waymo's growth momentum is strong: from public testing in 2017 to fully driverless public service in 2020, expanding across multiple U.S. cities and partnering with automakers like Stellantis for production vehicles.[2][3][4]
Waymo originated in 2009 as Google's Self-Driving Car Project (initially Project Chauffeur) in the X moonshot lab, led by figures like Sebastian Thrun, Anthony Levandowski, and influenced by co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin. The idea emerged from DARPA Grand Challenge successes and Google's mapping tech like Street View, starting with modified Toyota Prius vehicles tackling 100-mile autonomous routes.[2][3][5][7]
Pivotal moments included the 2015 Firefly—the first fully driverless prototype without steering wheel or pedals—and early public road testing. In 2016, it spun off from Google as Waymo under Alphabet. Launches followed: Waymo One in 2018 (initially with safety drivers), fully driverless public service in Phoenix by 2020, and leadership transition to co-CEOs Tekedra Mawakana and Dmitri Dolgov in 2025.[1][3][4][5]
Waymo rides the autonomous mobility megatrend, accelerating amid rising demand for sustainable urban transport, e-commerce logistics, and road safety amid 1.3 million annual global traffic deaths. Timing favors it post-regulatory wins (e.g., Nevada's 2012 license) and AV tech maturation, with market forces like labor shortages for drivers and EV integration boosting robotaxis.[3][4][6][9]
It influences the ecosystem as a pioneer: first fully commercial driverless service sets standards for competitors like Cruise, shapes policy (via leaders like Mawakana), and partners with OEMs, pushing Alphabet's moonshot model into trillion-dollar mobility-as-a-service markets.[1][2][5]
Waymo leads AV commercialization, with expansion into more cities, logistics (goods movement), and international markets on the horizon, fueled by data flywheels from millions of rides. Trends like advanced AI, regulatory easing, and multimodal transport (e.g., integrating with public transit) will propel growth, potentially valuing it at tens of billions as robotaxis disrupt $10T global mobility.[4][6][9]
Its influence may evolve from tech pioneer to ecosystem orchestrator, licensing Waymo Driver tech widely while prioritizing safety to preempt backlash—reinforcing its core mission to make roads safer than human-driven ones ever could.[1][5]
Waymo has raised $16.0B across 1 funding round. Most recently, it raised $16.0B Series D in February 2026 at a valuation of approximately $1.3B.
| Date | Round | Lead Investors | Other Investors |
|---|---|---|---|
| Feb 2, 2026 | $16.0B Series D | Alphabet, Dragoneer Investment Group, DST Global, Sequoia Capital | Andreessen Horowitz, BDT & MSD Partners, Bessemer Venture Partners, CapitalG, Fidelity, Google Ventures, Kleiner Perkins, Mubadala Capital, Perry Creek Capital, Silver Lake, Temasek Holdings, Tiger Global Management, T. Rowe Price |