California’s Waymo, which has a factory in Detroit that mass produces L4 autonomous vehicles, has completed its first external investment round of $2.25 billion.
“We’ve always approached our mission as a team sport, collaborating with our OEM and supplier partners, our operations partners, and the communities we serve to build and deploy the world’s most experienced driver,” says John Krafcik, CEO of Waymo. “Today, we’re expanding that team, adding financial investors and important strategic partners who bring decades of experience investing in and supporting successful technology companies building transformative products.”
The Waymo Driver has driven more than 20 million miles on public roads across more than 25 cities and more than 10 billion miles in simulation. The Detroit factory has shipped its first electric cars and Class 8 trucks integrated with fifth-generation hardware, with all-new, more powerful compute and more capable sensing.
The company also has a public self-driving ride-hailing service called Waymo One. It has served thousands of customers in Arizona in a mixed-use area larger than San Francisco. The Waymo Driver is also deployed across vehicle platforms and business applications including Waymo Via, which is focused on goods delivery.
Among the investors are: Silver Lake, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, and Mubadala Investment Co. as well as Magna, Andreessen Horowitz, AutoNation, and Alphabet.
“CPP Investments is focused on identifying and investing in long-horizon growth opportunities across the globe,” says Ryan Selwood, managing director and head of direct private equity at CPP. “This investment in Waymo, the clear leader in developing autonomous vehicle technology with the potential to create several global markets of tremendous scale through deployment of the Waymo Driver, will enhance our ability to deliver long term, sustainable returns for the fund’s 20 million contributors and beneficiaries.”
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