- Waymo, owned by Alphabet, aims to surpass one million paid rides per week by the end of 2026.
- The service ended 2024 having quadrupled its trips to 15 million rides for the year and currently handles roughly 400,000 paid trips weekly.
- Alphabet announced a sweeping seven-part debt sale to bankroll a record-breaking $185 billion AI spending spree this year.
Alphabet’s autonomous vehicle subsidiary, Waymo, has set an ambitious target to serve one million paying customers weekly by the end of 2026, marking a significant milestone for GOOGL shareholders this year. The company, widely seen as the clear leader in the robotaxi race against Tesla, recently outlined its plans in an interview conversation with Bloomberg Tech.
Waymo experienced massive growth in 2024, quadrupling its trips to deliver 15 million rides and surpassing 20 million lifetime rides. It now operates in six U.S. cities and is actively preparing to launch in more than 20 additional cities this year alone.
Consequently, promising updates from Waymo have frequently caused jumps in GOOGL stock. The company’s expansion, which now includes a recent launch in Miami, is continuing domestically while it also looks at international markets like London and Tokyo.
Meanwhile, regulatory scrutiny on competitor Tesla has opened the door for Waymo to lead the robotics spotlight, sending GOOGL higher. Consequently, each positive development for the autonomous cab service strengthens its market position.
In a related financial move, Alphabet stock ticked higher this week after announcing a bond sale to fund its AI efforts. The tech giant is launching its first debt sale of the year to bankroll an aggressive $185 billion Artificial Intelligence expansion.
However, GOOGL stock is down 6% in the past week, partly due to a bearish warning from Wall Street legend Michael Burry. The ‘Big Short’ investor explained that Google’s recent decision to issue the 100-year debt bond would spell doom for the tech giant.
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