Descriptions:
Waymo Co-CEO Tekedra Mawakana speaks with Bloomberg Technology about the autonomous vehicle company’s $16 billion fundraising round, completed at a $126 billion valuation. The round was co-led by new investors Sequoia Capital, DST Global, and Dragoneer Investment Group alongside majority shareholder Alphabet. Mawakana frames the raise as validation of an inflection point: in 2025, Waymo quadrupled its trip volume to 15 million rides, surpassing 20 million lifetime rides, and now operates at 400,000 paid rides per week across six cities. At 127 million miles driven, the company reports 90% fewer serious injury-causing crashes compared to human drivers — the safety metric Mawakana calls central to Waymo’s mission.
For 2026, Waymo is laying groundwork for expansion into more than 20 cities. London is described as its first major international launch and potentially the largest citywide deployment the company has undertaken from day one, with the UK’s regulatory environment characterized as “forward-leaning.” New York City is explicitly excluded from the 2026 city list because current rules require a human operator in the vehicle; Mawakana notes that a New York State testing permit was granted through Governor Hochul and that state-level expansion outside the city is a viable near-term path.
On the hardware side, Waymo is transitioning from its Jaguar i-Pace fleet to Ohi vehicles now and the Hyundai Ioniq 5 later in the year. Capital allocation priorities for the $16 billion are described as execution-focused: scaling the fleet, cost-reducing the hardware stack, proving unit economics, and growing the team.
📺 Source: Bloomberg Technology · Published February 11, 2026
🏷️ Format: Interview
