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Waymo raises massive $16 billion round at $126 billion valuation, plans expansion to 20+ cities

⁨86⁩ ⁨likes⁩

Submitted ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago⁩ by ⁨return2ozma@lemmy.world⁩ to ⁨technology@lemmy.world⁩

https://electrek.co/2026/02/02/waymo-raises-16-billion-round-at-126-billion-valuation-plans-expansion/

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Comments

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  • Quazatron@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

    I wonder how many people per year you can move with that amount of money applied to light rail.

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    • monkeyslikebananas2@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

      But if they did that, then that money doesn’t go to a few rich people… think, man, THINK!

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  • whereIsTamara@lemmy.org ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

    Ban them now. Oh wait, capitalism

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  • A_norny_mousse@piefed.zip ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

    They’re trying to seize the moment, after yet another Musk debacle with self-driving taxis/cars.

    Yes, Waymos are probably a little better than whatever Musk did.

    Very recently I saw an article where they experimented with the AIs that steer these things: it’s basically enough to hold a sign that tells it what to do, to tell it what to do.

    It’s artificial alright but certainly not intelligent enough and shouldn’t have been let loose on the public for at least another ten years. Fuck.

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    • Chozo@fedia.io ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

      Even with the recent struck child, Waymos are still light years ahead of human drivers in terms of safety. Honestly, the faster we can replace human drivers, the better. Almost all traffic collisions are caused by human error, remove that and the roads will be the safest they've been since horse-drawn carriages first entered the scene.

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      • dustyData@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

        I can get you one better. There won’t be car accidents if there aren’t any cars. Car free cities, or walkable cities are preferable. We don’t need safer drivers, we need more public transport.

        Apology for hitting kids is wild. An expansion of services will only raise frequency of accidents.

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    • ExcessShiv@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

      I saw an article where they experimented with the AIs that steer these things: it’s basically enough to hold a sign that tells it what to do

      So it is able to follow directions from traffic signs when it sees them…IDK, seems more intelligent than a significant portion of human drivers out there /s

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    • XLE@piefed.social ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

      So they’re basically following the early Elon Musk playbook: Look like the good guys, by being slightly less bad than your enemies.

      I’d like to think society won’t fall for the same trick again.

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    • Grimy@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

      Link to that experiment? It sounds a bit far fetched, I feel like they aren’t using something based on an LLM.

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      • A_norny_mousse@piefed.zip ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

        https://feddit.org/post/25090191/11258759

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  • ramble81@lemmy.zip ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

    I’ve seen enough of these driving around that they actually feel safer being around than human drivers and mile-for-mile the stats show that they’re safer… however it feels like lately they’ve been put under a massive microscope with any mistake being played up like they’re the worst thing ever. It almost feels like a smear campaign. I’m curious who/why (Musk and his “robotaxi “ are ones that come to mind)

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    • phutatorius@lemmy.zip ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

      I don’t trust any testing done by any firm whose finances depend on successful testing results. Independent third-party validation or GTFO. Self-regulation isn’t worth shit.

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      • Not_mikey@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

        They have to report any accidents to the authorities. They tend to be very diligent on this as cruise, another former autonomous vehicle company, went under after it lied about how an accident happened.

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      • ramble81@lemmy.zip ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

        How about a peer reviewed analysis of crash data and percentage of autonomous driving vs humans?

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  • CallMeAnAI@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

    Safer than humans. It’s great they keep on pushing.

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  • tal@lemmy.today ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

    Tokyo and London are confirmed as the company’s first international markets

    Apparently their software is capable of driving on the left.

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    • DrCake@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

      I wonder how it’s handled, is it a newly trained model for UK driving? If it’s just the US model but told to drive on the left it will be disastrous. UK driving standards are so much higher than in the US, plus tighter lanes with often completely worn out road markings. Think I’ll just avoid London for the first 6 months they are active

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      • mbirth@lemmy.ml ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

        They’re doing test rides already.

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