The robotaxi operator had a pretty good year, one dead bodega cat notwithstanding. As such, its looking to extend its streak by raising $15 billion on a $100 billion valuation, according to Bloomberg. The money would help fuel its plans to expand to 20 new cities in 2026, including London and Tokyo.
The electric vehicle battery recycling and manufacturing venture is rolling out new battery recycling and retreival bins in San Francisco and Nevada to collect old, unused, and unwanted batteries. No special packaging or disassembly required. Inside the bins, a microcontroller uses infrared, ultrasonic, and other sensing tools to scan each item and maintain safe conditions. Any batteries up to 300Wh will be accepted.
That’s triple the number of fares it did in 2024, the company said today. Assuming that the average Waymo ride costs $20.43, that could mean in excess of $286 million in revenue for the company. Of course, some of that money is going toward taxes and other ride-hailing fees. Still, that’s an impressive number for a company that only operates in five cities in the US — and soon to grow to 20 cities internationally. Waymo also says it’s now on track to do 20 million lifetime trips by the end of the year.
