$16 Billion for Waymo to Dominate the Robotaxi Market in the West

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There’s no doubt about it — if you stopped time today, Waymo would be named the robotaxi winner outside of China, or certainly in the West. No other company compares in robotaxi deployment to date. Now, there are companies that think they can catch up, or whose chief aim is to do so — Tesla and Zoox, for example. But no other company is actually operating real robotaxis in several US cities, thousands of rides a day.

The company wants to build on that success quickly and keep its lead. It now intends to scale much more quickly than it has and cement a presence in many more markets. As a result, Waymo has just raised $16 billion more in order to help it do so.

Yesterday, the company wrote the following: “Today, Waymo enters a new era. We have raised a $16 billion investment round valuing the company at $126 billion post-money. This capital underscores that the age of autonomous mobility at scale has arrived, and Waymo is leading the way. In addition to Alphabet’s strong sustained support as our majority investor, the financing was led by Dragoneer Investment Group, DST Global, and Sequoia Capital, and included significant investments from Andreessen Horowitz and Mubadala Capital as well as Bessemer Venture Partners, Silver Lake, Tiger Global, and T. Rowe Price. Additional investors included BDT & MSD Partners, CapitalG, Fidelity Management & Research Company, GV, Kleiner Perkins, Perry Creek Capital, and Temasek, underscoring the Waymo Driver’s status as the world’s most trusted, proven, and scalable solution for the future of transportation.”

As the company has done time after time, it then made sure to point the spotlight on safety. This does seem to be a place where Waymo excels, beating human drivers and other robotaxi operators. “​​This milestone is built on a foundation of safety that is now statistically superior to human driving. Across 127 million miles of fully autonomous operation—the equivalent of going to the moon and back over 260 times—we have achieved a 90% reduction in serious injury crashes. This is the direct result of a driver that is never affected by the leading causes of road tragedy, including distraction, impairment, and fatigue,” Waymo writes.

“This safety record has fueled a year of extraordinary growth; in 2025 alone, we more than tripled our annual volume to 15 million rides, surpassing 20 million lifetime rides to date. We are no longer proving a concept; we are scaling a commercial reality, laying the groundwork for ride-hailing operations in over 20 additional cities in 2026, including Tokyo and London. Today, with more than 400,000 rides provided every week across six major U.S. metropolitan areas, we have demonstrated that our technology is not just the most advanced manifestation of AI in the physical world, but a vital service that people have come to rely on in their daily lives.”

You can say there needs to be more data and more research, but you can’t really argue with those points. That is especially true because of the fact that Waymo shares a lot of data publicly for independent review and study, something other companies are not doing — no other companies.

Waymo notes that this $16 billion cash infusion will help it expand rapidly not just in the United States but also globally, and “will ensure we are positioned to move forward with unprecedented velocity.” Expect many more announcements in 2026….

Now, does globally mean globally? Does Waymo intend to go into the largest market in the world, China, and become a major player there? I doubt it. The Chinese market is probably outside of its range, due to the Chinese government and public favoring robotaxi companies there that are well off the ground and the Chinese government using national security concerns in particular to block outside companies. However, there’s plenty of opportunity outside of China. I presume that’s what it means. In fact, I assume it is 95% focused on “the West” when talking about global expansion here — Europe, most notably. But we shall see.

If you’re interested in joining this exciting team, feel free to look for jobs at the company now.

I’ll end with a few provided quotes that are a bit more compelling and interesting than your standard press release quotes from associated people.

“As a technology leader in the trillion dollar transportation market, Waymo has moved beyond research milestones to achieve operational excellence, tripling its weekly paid rides in just one year while maintaining customer delight,” said Konstantine Buhler, Partner at Sequoia. “Waymo is an exceptional business, leveraging its compounding data advantage to usher in a new era of transportation and a safety culture that can save millions of lives. We’re excited to partner with Tekedra, Dmitri and team as they expand the magic of the Waymo Driver to 20 additional cities and beyond.”

“Waymo has brought autonomous driving from science fiction to reality. It’s saving lives already, with significantly fewer serious injury crashes compared to human drivers. As it scales in 2026 and beyond, Waymo will boost productivity and accessibility for millions while improving road safety worldwide,” said Saurabh Gupta, co-founder of DST Global. “Autonomous driving, led by Waymo, will have a profound impact on how we live and work, including reimagining cities. We are excited to partner with Tekedra, Dmitri and the Waymo team to be a part of this future.”

“Dragoneer partners with a small number of companies that can fundamentally transform the world through category-defining technology and products. 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,” said Jared Middleman, Partner at Dragoneer. “We have studied autonomous driving for over a decade and could not be more excited to back Tekedra, Dmitri, the formidable engineering team, and the entire Waymo organization, who are poised to permanently change how people and goods move through communities around the globe. 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.”