Waymo has raised another huge chunk of change from investors. The company announced on its blog that it had secured a $5.6 billion “oversubscribed investment round,” the largest of which came from Google’s parent company Alphabet.
The company plans to work with Uber to expand into Austin and Atlanta by early next year. Waymo says it plans to use the capital injection for expansion. This latest round brings Waymo’s total funding to $11.1 billion, combined with $5.5 billion raised in two previous rounds in 2020 and 2021.
Waymo currently operates in San Francisco, Los Angeles and Phoenix, offering curbside transportation to Sky Harbor International Airport through its Waymo One corporate driving system. The company also announced that it has begun offering “fully autonomous highway operations in Phoenix and San Francisco.”
The new funding will also help Waymo evolve its Waymo One system, a self-driving system that can be adapted to a variety of businesses. Waymo said in a blog post that it plans to provide “long-term support for a variety of business applications” through Waymo One.
Alphabet raised $5 billion for Waymo in July as part of what Chief Financial Officer Ruth Porat called a “multi-year investment.” The company recorded a total of 25 million miles driven by driverless vehicles in July, surpassing companies such as Uber, which sold its self-driving unit four years ago before partnering with Waymo.
