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Waymo receives a lot of attention for its rapid expansion. And for good reason; It seems like every week the company’s robotaxis arrive in a new city or expand within an existing service area.
We’ve long known that Waymo’s sixth-generation autonomous driving system, which debuted on its next-generation Ojai robotaxi, is critical to those ambitions. But now we better understand why.
The company, which has just opened his Ojai robotaxi to all passengers in Los Angeles, Phoenix and San Francisco, has repeatedly said that this next-generation vehicle is cheaper to build, operate and maintain, necessary ingredients if the company has any hope of someday turning a profit.
What was less clear, until this week, was how practical and vertically integrated Waymo has become in its pursuit of that goal.
The company shared this week that built a custom silicon chip – specifically a 5nm ASIC chip, which is designed to handle the massive influx of raw data before it reaches the central “brain” of the autonomous driving system. (To get an idea of the amount of data, consider that Waymo Ojai has 13 high-fidelity cameras.) Waymo said the chip offers more than 1,000 TOPS (trillion operations per second) of computing performance, a statistic that puts it in roughly the same performance range as Nvidia’s latest version. DRIVE AGX Thor Automotive processor, a powerful computer designed for automated driving applications.
The end result, Waymo says, is a system that has “unmatched efficiency and performance.” The result: Waymo maintains that this chip is a fundamental piece of a system that can react quickly and safely in complex, high-density environments, such as cities.
It’s worth noting that Waymo doesn’t just work on computing. The company listed a host of partners, some for the first time, including AMD, Micron, Nvidia, Samsung, Sandisk, Socionext and TSMC.
a little bird
A couple of little birds spoke Sean O’Kane (senior reporter, special projects at TechCrunch) about a rather curious investigation being carried out by the Idaho National Laboratory.
According to our sources, the lab is evaluating whether Chinese lidar sensors could pose a security risk if widely used in vehicles in the United States. This is notable in itself. But what caught our attention is that the research is funded by a company (or group of companies) in the electric and autonomous vehicle industries.
O’Kane approached numerous companies, including Rivian, General Motors, Ford, Kodiak, Lucid Motors, Nuro and Uber. And all of these companies said they were unaware of the review. Aurora, Nvidia and Zoox did not respond to questions.
Do you have any advice for us? Email Kirsten Korosec at kirsten.korosec@techcrunch.com or my sign at kkorosec.07, or email Sean O’Kane at sean.okane@techcrunch.com.
Offers!
Alsothe startup incubated within rivianhas raised another 150 million dollars in a Series D round led by Prysm Capital with participation from existing backers Eclipse, Greenoaks and MVP Ventures. It has also raised $455 million since spinning off from Rivian in March 2025.
The rise is notable, and not just because it also already reached a Series D round after launching just over a year ago. The company’s mission has also evolved, which helps explain why it still needs to continue raising cash.
When it also launched in spring 2025, it was described as a micromobility company focused on pedal-assist electric bikes and commercial cargo quads. It is now a “Palo Alto-based technology company that makes the world’s most capable self-driving small electric vehicles.”
That autonomous driving component appeared earlier this year when Also closed a $200 million round and announced a multi-year business deal with DoorDash to develop and deploy autonomous delivery vehicles.
Curbside Delivery Robot Company Serve robotics We also had a notable and very timely agreement this week. You may remember that earlier this month, Serve reported during its earnings call that Uber had reduced the use of its robots in the app; that partnership will end next year. Separately, Uber also sold all his shares in the company.
Months before these changes, Serve was working on several other deals that were recently closed, according to inside sources. serve has associated with grubhub to use its sidewalk robots, starting in Chicago, Los Angeles and Alexandria, Virginia. Serve also announced that its existing partnership with DoorDash has expanded to San Jose, California and Washington, DC.
Uber’s withdrawal from Serve illustrates an important lesson for any company trying to scale: always diversify. And it seems that Serve has achieved it.
Other offers that caught my attention…
Einridethe Swedish electric and autonomous transportation company, reached an agreement with tesla buy 500 of their electric Semis and make large electric trucks available to its customers, which include Amazon. Tesla Semis will be added in phases to Einride’s fleet over the next 24 months, starting in September. Reminder: Tesla is trying to grow, but recently withdrew its promises to reach “volume production” in 2026.
Groundedthe Detroit-based startup that customizes electric and gasoline vans, raised a $5 million seed roundwith repeat investments from existing backers Also Capital and Chicago-based early-stage firm The 81 Collection, along with Animal Capital, the Michigan Outdoor Innovation Fund and “several SpaceX alumni,” according to founder and CEO Sam Shapiro.
Uber said it is investing and partnering with a drone delivery company Zipline. Uber and Zipline did not reveal the amount of the investment, but they did share a noble objective: to make 1 million deliveries per day using the startup’s drones by the end of 2029.
Vesseva New Zealand startup developing electric hydrofoils, raised $19 million in a Series A round led by Blackbird Ventures. New investors GD1 and Rypples joined alongside existing investors K1W1, Icehouse Ventures, Shasta Ventures, NZVC and existing angel investors.
Notable readings and other tidbits
Amazon wants your drone delivery service reach nearly 500 US cities by the end of 2026, six-folding its current presence.
rock roboticsan autonomous vehicle technology startup founded by veterans of Waymo and Segmentclaims that excavators equipped with its autonomous driving system are now operating completely autonomously at three large customer sites in Nevada and Texas.
hyundaiThe luxury car brand. Genesis unveiled a Seven-seater electric SUV called GV90 that will compete with other powerful electric vehicles such as the Cadillac Escalade IQ and the Rivian R1S.
tesla It is one of the 11 automobile manufacturers in China recall of millions of vehicles on its hidden emergency doors, which can trap occupants in the event of a crash or fire. Brands Xiaomi, Xpeng and Geely, Zeekr and Lynk & Co., are also recalling electric vehicles.
tesla, Uberand Waymo all received permits from Nevada regulators that will allow them operate commercial robotaxi services in Clark County, home of Las Vegas. Together, these permits would deploy up to 8,000 robotaxis across the county over the next 12 months. All 8,000 vehicles are unlikely to land in Las Vegas over the next year, but even a fraction of that number will impact the city.
Uber was fined €825 million ($966 million) by the Dutch Data Protection Authority for using automated systems to deactivate or suspend drivers’ accounts without properly informing them, a violation of European data protection law.
Uber also had a series of other autonomous vehicle-related announcements this week, including the first user tests in London with its partner Wayve; the launch of a robotaxis service in Zagreb, Croatia, with Pony.ai and Verne; and self-driving tours in dubai with Baidu.
Waymo has answered the questions from National Highway Traffic Safety Administration as part of the regulator’s investigation into an accident in which a robotaxi ran over a child at low speed. The problem: all the answers (at least the ones posted so far) are redacted.
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