Waymo gets US$2.25 billion from external investors to fund global expansion in self-driving vehicles
- Other investors in first external funding round are auto parts maker Magna, venture capitalist Andreessen Horowitz and car dealership AutoNation
- The Waymo Driver has clocked more than 20 million miles on public roads across over 25 cities and over 10 billion miles in simulation
Self-driving vehicles firm Waymo said it has raised US$2.25 billion from a who’s who list of investors in its first external funding round to power its global expansion in self-driving vehicles amid competition from Chinese-backed ventures.
The capital came from investors including Silver Lake, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and Mubadala Investment, it said in a statement. Other backers are auto parts maker Magna, venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, and car dealership AutoNation, and its parent company Alphabet Inc.
“With this injection of capital and business acumen, alongside Alphabet, we’ll deepen our investment in our people, our technology, and our operations, all in support of the deployment of the Waymo Driver around the world,” said John Krafcik, chief executive of Waymo in a statement datelined March 2 in San Francisco.
The Waymo Driver has clocked more than 20 million miles on public roads across over 25 cities, and over 10 billion miles in simulation. On the other hand, Waymo One, a public self-driving ride-hailing service, serves thousands of customers in Arizona.
“Waymo is the proven leader in self-driving technology, is the only autonomous vehicle company with a public ride-hailing service, and is successfully scaling its fully driverless experience,” said Egon Durban, co-CEO of Silver Lake.
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