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.
<p class="canvas-atom canvas-text Mb(1.0em) Mb(0)–sm Mt(0.8em)–sm" type="text" content="Waymo competes with Baidu and Pony.ai in the race to make self-driving vehicles a widespread reality. While China has strong hopes to dominate the autonomous driving market, its leading companies still lag Waymo in US engagement tests, according to data disclosed in an annual report by the California Department of Motor Vehicles last year.” data-reactid=”22″>Waymo competes with Baidu and Pony.ai in the race to make self-driving vehicles a widespread reality. While China has strong hopes to dominate the autonomous driving market, its leading companies still lag Waymo in US engagement tests, according to data disclosed in an annual report by the California Department of Motor Vehicles last year.
<p class="canvas-atom canvas-text Mb(1.0em) Mb(0)–sm Mt(0.8em)–sm" type="text" content="A Waymo logo is displayed on the door of a car at the Google I/O conference in Mountain View, California. Photo: AP alt=A Waymo logo is displayed on the door of a car at the Google I/O conference in Mountain View, California. Photo: AP” data-reactid=”30″>A Waymo logo is displayed on the door of a car at the Google I/O conference in Mountain View, California. Photo: AP alt=A Waymo logo is displayed on the door of a car at the Google I/O conference in Mountain View, California. Photo: AP
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.
<p class="canvas-atom canvas-text Mb(1.0em) Mb(0)–sm Mt(0.8em)–sm" type="text" content="Purchase the China AI Report 2020 brought to you by SCMP Research and enjoy a 20% discount (original price US$400). This 60-page all new intelligence report gives you first-hand insights and analysis into the latest industry developments and intelligence about China AI. Get exclusive access to our webinars for continuous learning, and interact with China AI executives in live Q&A. Offer valid until 31 March 2020.” data-reactid=”33″>Purchase the China AI Report 2020 brought to you by SCMP Research and enjoy a 20% discount (original price US$400). This 60-page all new intelligence report gives you first-hand insights and analysis into the latest industry developments and intelligence about China AI. Get exclusive access to our webinars for continuous learning, and interact with China AI executives in live Q&A. Offer valid until 31 March 2020.
<p class="canvas-atom canvas-text Mb(1.0em) Mb(0)–sm Mt(0.8em)–sm" type="text" content="This article originally appeared in the South China Morning Post (SCMP), the most authoritative voice reporting on China and Asia for more than a century. For more SCMP stories, please explore the SCMP app or visit the SCMP’s Facebook and Twitter pages. Copyright © 2020 South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.” data-reactid=”34″>This article originally appeared in the South China Morning Post (SCMP), the most authoritative voice reporting on China and Asia for more than a century. For more SCMP stories, please explore the SCMP app or visit the SCMP’s Facebook and Twitter pages. Copyright © 2020 South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.
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