Google owned American autonomous driving technology Waymo says it has successfully raised $US16 billion (approximately $A23 billion) in its efforts to strengthen its growth and scale its global presence.
Waymo, which started out life as the Google Self-Driving Car Project and is now a subsidiary of Alphabet, Google’s parent company, announced this week that it had completed a $US16 billion funding round that now values the company at $US126 billion (approximately $A180 billion).
The financing was led by a diverse range of investors including Dragoneer Investment Group, DST Global, and Sequoia Capital, and included significant investments from Andreessen Horowitz and Mubadala Capital, to name just a few.
“Dragoneer partners with a small number of companies that can fundamentally transform the world through category-defining technology and products,” said Jared Middleman, partner at Dragoneer.
“Waymo has not only taught a car to drive itself, but to do so meaningfully better than any human or competing system, and we believe that lead will endure.
“The technology is extraordinary, the opportunity is vast, and we believe an exciting future is coming where Waymo will provide the safer and more convenient choice for families everywhere.”
Billing the successful fundraising as proof that “the age of autonomous mobility at scale has arrived”, Waymo said that the latest infusion of capital will ensure the company is positioned to “move forward with unprecedented velocity” and focus on scaling its global presence.
The company will now aim to bring its Waymo Driver system to even more cities across the United States and around the globe.
Waymo claims that it has racked up 127 million miles (around 200 million kilometres) of fully autonomous operation. The company also claims a 90 per cent reduction in serious injury crashes, according to its Safety Impact report.
Joshua S. Hill is a Melbourne-based journalist who has been writing about climate change, clean technology, and electric vehicles for over 15 years. He has been reporting on electric vehicles and clean technologies for Renew Economy and The Driven since 2012. His preferred mode of transport is his feet.