SAN JOSE: In the race with Elon Musk's Tesla to dominate the market for driverless robotaxis, Google sister company Waymo has strengthened its finances to fund global expansion.
Waymo raised US$16bil (RM62.8bil) from investors in a financing round, valuing the company at US$126bil (RM494.8bil), the company said in a statement on Monday.
Waymo runs more than 2,500 fully driverless vehicles across several US cities and is continuing to expand. Its robotaxis now make more than 400,000 paid journeys with passengers per week without a human at the wheel.
The company is aiming for rapid expansion in the United States and has already sent its vehicles to London and Tokyo. Waymo cars have driven a total of more than 200 million kilometres autonomously.
Tesla currently operates only a few dozen robotaxis in Austin, Texas. Until recently, they were accompanied by safety supervisors in the passenger seat.
Musk has said Tesla will become the world's number one company in autonomous driving and robotaxis within a few years. The key to this is that standard cars from the production line will have the option to drive completely autonomously. Tesla also plans to build a robotaxi without a steering wheel or pedals starting this year.
Tesla remains alone among major players in relying solely on cameras for autonomous driving. In contrast, Waymo and other developers, including Amazon-owned Zoox, rely on additional costly lidar sensors to scan the vehicle's surroundings, aiming for greater safety.
Tesla's approach offers a cost advantage, but questions remain about consumer trust in the technology. – dpa
