Waymo receives $5 billion investment from parent company Alphabet, expands service at Sky Harbor Airport
PHOENIX - There are around 200 Waymo cars on Valley roads right now and soon, you may start noticing even more of them.
Parent company Alphabet announced it's investing $5 billion to expand the reach of driverless vehicles.
After touring the Waymo warehouse, the reasons why are becoming clearer.
Waymo's success in the Valley
The company is running on a high note. Rides are up, it's territory is expanding and money is pouring in.
The company says the landmark investment from Alphabet proves more and more people are starting to trust and rely on driverless cars.
How does Waymo operate?
As a dying Waymo pulls into the warehouse on South Third Street in Phoenix, it looks for an open spot and a fleet deployment specialist greets it with a charger and cleaning supplies.
Floor supervisors keep track of the fleet of 200 Jaguar I-Paces and inside, remote assistance employees keep track of any issues their cars or riders experience on the road.
"People are using our service every single day in multiple geographies: Phoenix San Francisco and Los Angeles and soon in Austin. So we’re really excited about the growth we’re seeing," said Brad Gillette, Waymo's Phoenix market lead.
Interior of a Waymo self-driving car featuring a digital dashboard and steering wheel, San Francisco, California, August 20, 2024. (Photo by Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images)
The popularity of autonomous cars is taking off.
Tesla is in talks to launch its own fleet.
Cruise continues to improve its services, which were on pause (Cruise said they resumed in Phoenix in June).
It leaves Waymo to dominate the driverless car market.
The company announced it is expanding to 24-hour service at Sky Harbor Airport.
It's added 90 square miles of territory in the Phoenix-metro area.
Rides in all its markets are up to more than 100,000 a week.
And now, with an additional $5 billion bonus from its parent company, more of the AI-powered cars will be on the roads in the near future.
"The size of Waymo's fleet is currently under 1,000 vehicles. It's going to take many years before Waymos and robotaxis in general become ubiquitous. And it's still going to be a very small percentage of the total of the taxi market," said Alex Roy of Johnson and Roy Advisors.
Experts don’t believe Waymo’s will completely replace human-driven taxis for decades to come as there are still some kinks to work out.
Waymo cars can’t drive in cold weather climates and their algorithms still seem to struggle - like in this most recent instance posted on TikTok – where a Waymo drove in the wrong direction in Tempe.
Warning, this video uses harsh language:
Driverless Waymo gets pulled over by police and it's captured on body cam
This is something you probably didn't consider: self-driving Waymo cars can get pulled over by police. In fact, it happened last month in Phoenix and it was caught on body camera.
But as technology improves, and more people grow to trust it, Phoenix residents will be watching the future of driving morph into reality.
"You know, it's really exciting. It's just a validation that people really trust our service," Gillette said.
Waymo says its taxi experience is safer, more private and cleaner than Uber and Lyft and even priced pretty much the same.
They believe they are not taking jobs from ride-share drivers but instead adding new types of jobs to the market.
We reached out to Uber and Lyft but did not get a response.