Waymo

Waymo develops the Waymo Driver, an autonomous driving system, and operates Waymo One, its driverless ride-hailing service. Passengers can hail rides within service territories, add stops and change destinations during a trip; rides are also available through Uber in Austin and Atlanta. Its electric fleet provides transportation for people who cannot drive or choose not to own a car. The Driver combines cameras, lidar and radar with detailed maps to interpret its surroundings and make driving decisions.

Waymo grew from Google’s self-driving project, begun in 2009, whose founding members included Sebastian Thrun and Anthony Levandowski. It became an Alphabet subsidiary in 2016 and is led by co-CEOs Tekedra Mawakana and Dmitri Dolgov. Its engineering approach includes an independent onboard system that checks proposed trajectories against physical constraints and traffic laws. The Waymo Open Dataset gives researchers labeled sensor data, object trajectories, maps and camera imagery for studying perception, motion forecasting and autonomous driving.

The company reported 15 million rides in 2025, more than triple its previous annual volume. As of August 2026, Waymo reported more than 500,000 fully autonomous trips per week. Waymo raised $16 billion in 2026 at a $126 billion post-money valuation, with Alphabet remaining its majority investor.