Waymo secures a massive $16 billion funding round to accelerate the global deployment of its autonomous ride-hailing service, expanding into international markets. Waymo, the Alphabet-owned leader in autonomous vehicle technology, has raised a monumental $16 billion in its latest funding round. Led by a consortium of sovereign wealth funds, institutional investors, and a strategic investment from a major global automaker, this round marks one of the largest single infusions of capital into the autonomous vehicle sector. The capital is earmarked to fund an aggressive international scaling of its commercial robotaxi service. CEO Dmitri Dolgov stated the funding will accelerate the company's "third phase: global deployment." The plan involves establishing commercial operations in at least two new international regions within the next 36 months, with strong candidates being the European Union and Japan. This requires not only shipping vehicles but building out the local operational, mapping, and servicing infrastructure required for a dense, reliable autonomous ride-hailing network. "Today's investment validates the commercial readiness of our Waymo Driver and our business model," s...