Waymo, the self-driving taxi company owned by Google’s parent company, Alphabet, said on Monday that it had raised $16 billion to fuel its plans for global expansion.
The company’s latest funding round values it at about $126 billion, according to the announcement. The round was led by Dragoneer Investment Group, DST Global and Sequoia Capital in addition to Alphabet.
The infusion of money could put Waymo further ahead in the growing field of robot taxi companies, such as Amazon’s Zoox and Elon Musk’s fledgling Tesla robot taxi service. Ride-hailing services such as Lyft and Uber have also struck partnerships with autonomous vehicle companies, including Waymo, to offer driverless rides.
Waymo said it would use the money to fuel growth plans, which include rolling out its commercial service and road testing with a safety driver in more than 20 cities this year. A spokeswoman for Waymo declined to comment on the news and pointed to the posted announcement.
The company’s driverless cars — which operate using artificial intelligence software and are outfitted with multiple sensors — have become omnipresent in San Francisco. Rivals such as Zoox and Mr. Musk’s robot taxi are starting to expand but have nowhere near the number of passengers of Waymo.
Waymo said it “more than tripled” its volume of rides last year to 15 million. The company started offering its robot taxi service in Phoenix in 2020 and has expanded to San Francisco, Atlanta, Los Angeles, Miami and Austin, Texas.
In recent months, Waymo has been making plans to increase its presence across the United States and internationally in places such as London and Tokyo. It also recently expanded its Bay Area service to include rides on the highway heading as far south as San Jose, about 40 miles away.
Last week, the company said it had started offering some rides to San Francisco International Airport, with a larger rollout in the coming months, as the Bay Area prepared to host major events such as the Super Bowl on Sunday and World Cup matches this summer.
Natallie Rocha is a San Francisco-based technology reporter and a member of the 2025-26 Times Fellowship class, a program for early-career journalists.
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