Waymo

Waymo is the autonomous driving subsidiary of Alphabet (Google's parent company), widely regarded as the leader in autonomous vehicle technology. Originally started as Google's self-driving car project in 2009, Waymo was spun out as a separate company in 2016 and has accumulated more autonomous driving miles than any other company.

Waymo One, the company's commercial robotaxi service, operates fully driverless vehicles in Phoenix (since 2020), San Francisco, and Los Angeles, with expansion to additional cities planned. The vehicles use a sensor suite including lidar, cameras, and radar, processed by Waymo's AI Driver — a sophisticated AI system that handles perception, prediction, and planning in real-time urban driving environments. Waymo has completed millions of fully autonomous rides.

Waymo represents the most advanced deployment of autonomous driving AI in the world. The company's decade-plus of development and real-world data collection gives it a significant lead over competitors, though the path to profitability at scale remains a challenge. Alphabet's willingness to fund Waymo through years of development reflects the enormous potential of autonomous transportation — and the company's technology continues to improve as its fleet grows and accumulates more driving data.