Robotaxis: Waymo collects 16 billion and accelerates global expansion

US company Waymo is solidifying its market leadership through a new financing round of 16 billion US dollars. With the support of its parent company Alphabet and numerous other investors, the robotaxi pioneer's total value is now estimated at 126 billion US dollars, underscoring market confidence in driverless technology.

The capital will be used for global scaling to expand into further US cities and international markets later this year, Waymo announced. As part of this expansion, more than 20 new cities are to be added this year, including London and Tokyo. The London test operation will start in spring, and from 2027 the service is expected to receive approval for the entire country.

So far, the robotaxi service is available in half a dozen US cities, including San Francisco and Los Angeles. The network was most recently expanded to Miami in January. In the past year, 2025, Waymo tripled its annual volume to 15 million rides and surpassed the 20 million total rides mark. More than 400,000 paid rides are now completed weekly.

Between Expansion Drive and Residual Risk

The investment is likely to further widen the gap to competitors. Among the competitors is Tesla, whose profits have recently plummeted and which wants to focus more on robotaxis in the future. So far, Tesla has only deployed a few driverless vehicles in the Texan city of Austin. One advantage the company has over Waymo is that it can produce the vehicles itself, while Waymo relies on partnerships with car manufacturers. In addition to Tesla, Amazon's subsidiary Zoox also operates a small fleet of driverless taxis in selected districts of Las Vegas. Zoox manufactures its vehicles itself, similar to Tesla.

Competition is also picking up speed in Europe, with providers like Uber and Lyft already pursuing concrete plans for a robotaxi service in London. In parallel, the Estonian company Bolt is driving development forward and cooperates with the specialist Pony.ai to bring robotaxis to Europe. These ambitions are supported by a partnership with Stellantis, which aims to bring autonomous vehicles to European roads on a large scale.

Waymo advertises a high safety promise. The fact that the technology is not infallible is shown by a recent incident in Santa Monica, where a schoolchild was hit and injured. Waymo stated that the robotaxi reacted faster than a human and announced that the behavior of autonomous vehicles near schools would be reviewed more closely.

(olb)