Waymo

Waymo wants to attract outside investors beyond Alphabet financing

Waymo specializes in developing technologies that enable you to drive without human intervention. Initially, it was created as a division of Google, and then, together with the search engine, it was taken over by Alphabet. Waymo recently announced an important step in attracting outside investors, allowing the company to focus even more on unmanned vehicle development.
The first round has already passed, thanks to which $2.25 billion was received. Waymo representatives said they want to attract as many outside investors as possible, and this funding will not remain the only one.
The company has separated the car line, now it will be called Waymo Via. The developer has a leading position in the niche, but autonomous technology is not yet sufficiently developed to become a successful business. Despite this, experts are positive about Waymo’s intention to attract investors, whose money will give an opportunity to deploy new interesting projects.
Interestingly, the Alphabet Corporation itself is in no hurry to talk about its plans. Perhaps after a while they will decide to get rid of the subsidiary and sell it. The possibility of this option was expressed by the executive director of Waymo, but he did not develop this topic. He recently held a briefing to talk about the company’s future plans. In addition, a representative of Waymo said that Alphabet continues to finance the development, but now it has been joined by funds from other investors. Already invested in autonomous technology for the car corporation Magna International, a dealer network from the U.S. AutoNation, which is engaged in maintenance of cars, including Waymo. In addition to them, large investment funds are cooperating with the developer.

Waymo was founded in 2009 by Google Corporation. Its main field of activity is the development of an autonomous driving option.
Not so long ago, the company introduced a new generation of cars, the fifth in a row. When driving, they independently analyze the situation, taking into account all the components within a radius of 500 meters. This technology includes 29 cameras, which make it possible to analyze and identify objects of the environment. In addition, the program includes radars that determine the distance between vehicles, people, sidewalks and buildings, assess their speed and direction. 5 lidars create a 3D map of the space taking into account all objects.
The new unmanned cars are already the fifth generation of Waymo, they have improved functionality and increased safety requirements. The car can recognize a pedestrian, other road users, it can “read” road signs, and takes into account the sidewalks. The mechanism is equipped with sensors that monitor whether the door in the cabin is closed, which happens in the immediate vicinity of the car.