Waymo
Waymo LLC, formerly known as the Google Self-Driving Car Project, is an American autonomous driving technology company headquartered in Mountain View, California. It is a subsidiary of Alphabet Inc, the parent company of Google.
Company type
Google Self-Driving Car Project
- January 17, 2009 (as the Google Self-Driving Car Project)
- December 13, 2016 (as Waymo)
- 2004 (as Stanford Self-Driving Car Team)
- Dmitri Dolgov (co-CEO)
- Tekedra Mawakana (co-CEO)
2,500 (2023) 
- Google, Inc. (2009–2016)
- Alphabet Inc. (2016–present)
The company traces its origins to the Stanford Racing Team, which competed in the 2005 and 2007 Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Grand Challenges.[1] Google's development of self-driving technology began in January 2009,[2][3] led by Sebastian Thrun, the former director of the Stanford Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (SAIL), and Anthony Levandowski, founder of 510 Systems and Anthony's Robots.[4][5] After almost two years of road testing with seven vehicles, the New York Times revealed Google's project in October 2010.[6][7][8]
In fall 2015, Google provided "the world's first fully driverless ride on public roads".[9] In December 2016, the project was renamed Waymo and spun out of Google as part of Alphabet.[10] In October 2020, Waymo became the first company to offer service to the public without safety drivers in the vehicle.[11][12][13][14] Waymo currently operates commercial robotaxi services in Phoenix, Arizona and San Francisco, with new services planned in Los Angeles[15] and Austin, Texas.[16]
Waymo is run by co-CEOs Tekedra Mawakana and Dmitri Dolgov.[17] The company raised $5.5 billion in multiple outside funding rounds.[18] Waymo has partnerships with multiple vehicle manufacturers, including Stellantis,[19] Mercedes-Benz Group AG,[20] Jaguar Land Rover,[21] and Volvo.[22]
Legal matters[edit]
Waymo LLC v. Uber Technologies, Inc. et al.[edit]
In February 2017, Waymo sued Uber and its subsidiary self-driving trucking company, Otto, alleging trade secret theft and patent infringement. The company claimed that three ex-Google employees, including Anthony Levandowski, had stolen trade secrets, including thousands of files, from Google before joining Uber.[157] The alleged infringement was related to Waymo's proprietary lidar technology,[158][159] Google accused Uber of colluding with Levandowski.[160] Levandowski allegedly downloaded 9 gigabytes of data that included over a hundred trade secrets; eight of which were at stake during the trial.[161][162]
An ensuing settlement gave Waymo 0.34% of Uber stock,[157] the equivalent of $245 million. Uber agreed not to infringe Waymo's intellectual property.[163] Part of the agreement included a guarantee that "Waymo confidential information is not being incorporated in Uber Advanced Technologies Group hardware and software."[164] In statements released after the settlement, Uber maintained that it received no trade secrets.[165] In May, according to an Uber spokesman, Uber had fired Levandowski, which resulted in the loss of roughly $250 million of his equity in Uber, which almost exactly equaled the settlement.[157] Uber announced that it was halting production of self-driving trucks through Otto in July 2018, and the subsidiary company was shuttered.[166]
California disclosure dispute[edit]
In January 2022, Waymo sued the California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) to prevent data on driverless crashes from being released to the public. Waymo maintained that such information constituted a trade secret.[167] According to The Los Angeles Times, the "topics Waymo wants to keep hidden include how it plans to handle driverless car emergencies, what it would do if a robot taxi started driving itself where it wasn't supposed to go, and what constraints there are on the car's ability to traverse San Francisco's tunnels, tight curves and steep hills."[168]
In February 2022, Waymo was successful in preventing the release of robotaxi safety records. A Waymo spokesperson affirmed that the company would be transparent about its safety record.[169]
Official website Https://www.waymo.com