Waymo LLC is reportedly in talks to raise a funding round that could more than double its valuation to $110 billion.

CNBC late Tuesday cited sources as saying that the autonomous vehicle maker is seeking at least $15 billion in new financing. The investment is expected to be led by Alphabet Inc., Waymo’s parent company. Other investors could reportedly chip in as well. 

It’s unclear who might join Alphabet in the deal, but late-stage funding rounds often include the participation of existing backers. In 2024, Waymo raised $5.6 billion from a consortium that included Silver Lake, T. Rowe Price, Fidelity and other institutional investors. Alphabet was also among the participants.

The new round would presumably go towards expanding Waymo’s autonomous ride-hailing service. The service is currently available in San Francisco, Austin, Phoenix, Atlanta and Los Angeles. Waymo plans to bring its autonomous taxis to about a dozen more U.S. cities next year along with London, its first international market.

Bloomberg reported that the Alphabet unit’s annualized revenue run-rate recently topped $350 million. Its vehicles made more than 14 million trips in 2025.

Waymo will manufacture additional taxis to support the growth push. This past May, it teamed up with Canadian auto parts maker Magna International Inc. to build an autonomous vehicle assembly facility in Arizona. The plant will produce a self-driving version of the Jaguar I-PACE electric SUV.

The plant turns vehicles into autonomous taxis by equipping them with a device called the Waymo Drive. The system, which is currently in its sixth iteration, combines a computing appliance with sensors installed on different parts of the SUV. Onboard artificial intelligence software turns data from those sensors into driving decisions.

According to Waymo, the newest version of its sensor suite includes more than two dozen devices. There are 13 cameras, four lidar units, six radar modules and an array of audio receivers. Compared with Waymo’s previous-generation hardware, the sensors can operate more reliably in challenging weather.

The Alphabet unit’s Arizona plant is set to produce 2,000 autonomous taxis in 2026. Down the road, the facility will be capable of making tens of thousands of vehicles per year. Google plans to deploy new automation technologies in the plant to streamline manufacturing. 

After a Waymo taxi rolls off the production line, it can drive itself to the nearest Waymo depot. That’s a hub where the Alphabet unit charges its vehicles and carries out maintenance work. Waymo says that its taxis can start picking up passengers within 30 minutes of leaving the factory.

Photo: Waymo