Alphabet, the parent company of search engine giant Google, has announced it’ll be investing a further US$5 billion (AU$ 7.6 billion) into its autonomous robotaxi firm Waymo.
CNBC reports Alphabet CFO Ruth Porat announced the funding in its second-quarter earnings call, while reiterating the company’s focus on remaining involved in new technologies, adding Waymo is an “important example” of its long-standing investments.
“This new round of funding will enable Waymo to continue to build the world’s leading autonomous driving company,” Ms Porat said on the call.
Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai added on the call that Waymo provides 50,000 weekly paid trips, primarily in San Francisco and Phoenix, while it has so far completed two million trips.
Waymo is included in Alphabet’s “Other Bets” unit, which CNBC reports delivered US$365 million (~AU$557 million) in quarterly revenue, up from US$285 million in the same time last year.
The unit’s losses, however, have increased to US$1.13 billion (AU$1.725 billion) from $813 million last year.
Previously, the Other Bets unit raised US$2.25 billion in its first external funding round in 2020. It raised another US$2.5 billion in 2021 with funding from various companies including American dealership business AutoNation.
The increased investment in Waymo comes after General Motors announced a significant budget cut to its autonomous vehicle arm Cruise following various legal issues arising from on-road incidents in recent years.
Tesla this week delayed plans to unveil Cybercab robotaxi from August to October due to “important changes” CEO Elon Musk wanted to make to the vehicle.
The investment also comes despite continued scrutiny over robotaxis in the US. A self-driving Jaguar I-Pace operated by Waymo was broken into and torched in San Francisco earlier this year, amidst rising tensions between local residents and autonomous vehicles.
Residents of the city had previously protested the expansion of Cruise and Waymo robotaxis by placing traffic cones on the vehicles’ bonnets, citing safety issues for all road users.
Still, Waymo CEO Tekedra Mawakana said via a post on X that the company is “grateful” for Alphabet’s “immense vote of confidence” in its operations and team.
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