Alphabet's autonomous driving technology company, Waymo, has completed a loan of $5 billion, with lenders including PIMCO, Blackstone Group (Blackstone), and Sixth Street among other well-known institutions.
This is Waymo's first debt financing. This move comes at a time when the company is accelerating its commercial expansion in existing cities and advancing into new markets in the United States, Europe, and Japan. Waymo calls this debt financing an important step in its evolution towards becoming a "large-scale commercial enterprise."
Waymo stated on Thursday that other contributors to this $5 billion loan also include Capital Group, Loomis Sayles, T. Rowe Price, Apollo, Blue Owl, Diameter Capital Partners, Franklin Templeton, Fidelity Management & Research Company, HPS Investment Partners, and Oaktree. Goldman Sachs serves as the sole lead bookkeeper.
Prior to this, Waymo has always relied on its parent company and external investors for capital. In February of this year, Waymo completed a $16 billion equity financing round, raising its valuation to $126 billion. This financing round was led by Dragoneer Investment Group, DST Global, and Sequoia Capital (Sequoia Capital). The investors who supported this round, including Alphabet, still maintain the majority stake. The company also completed a $5.6 billion Series C financing in 2024, $2.5 billion in 2021, and $3.2 billion in 2020.
Waymo A spokesperson stated in an email that this debt financing will provide the company with financial flexibility to strengthen its balance sheet and enable it to "seize significant opportunities ahead, especially at this stage of scaled business development where we have demonstrated a commercial need and are working to improve road safety outcomes in our operating communities."
Waymo originated from Google's internal autonomous driving project. Over the years, the company has been testing its autonomous vehicle technology on public roads in Silicon Valley and the Bay Area, and occasionally demonstrating it to the public or the media. In 2016, the company expanded into Phoenix, which became its first Robotaxi market.
In August 2023, Waymo obtained the final license required to operate Robotaxi services in California and charge passengers for them. This milestone propelled it to adopt a more aggressive commercialization strategy. Since then, Waymo has launched services in several California cities, including Los Angeles, San Francisco, and most recently San Diego. It has also brought Robotaxi services to other markets in the United States, such as Austin, Dallas, and Houston in Texas, as well as Miami, Orlando, and Tampa in Florida. Waymo currently provides Robotaxi services in 15 markets.
Waymo also hopes to push its Robotaxi service to a global scale. The company is conducting tests in London and Tokyo and plans to launch the service in these two cities.
However, the company's growth has also drawn criticism and attracted more attention from regulatory authorities.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA)’s Defects Investigation Office has launched an investigation into illegal activities surrounding school buses. Following an incident where a vehicle hit a child near a school earlier this month, this federal safety regulatory agency also initiated an investigation. The child suffered minor injuries, and the vehicle was traveling at a speed of about 6 miles per hour at the time of the collision. Earlier this year, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) also conducted an investigation into school buses, as they were found to have illegally overtaken stopped school buses multiple times in at least two states.
