Waymo Goes to Wall Street

<p>This week on <a href="https://www.roadtoautonomy.com/autonomy-markets/">Autonomy Markets</a>, <a href="https://www.roadtoautonomy.com/grayson-brulte/">Grayson Brulte</a> and <a href="https://x.com/WaltLightShed">Walter Piecyk</a> discuss Waymo’s first ever debt raise, the latest <a href="https://www.roadtoautonomy.com/field-reports/">The Road to Autonomy Field Reports</a> and the emergence of London as an autonomy capital.</p><p>Grayson views the debt raise as a clear signal of aggressive expansion, while Walt sees securing access to capital markets as a crucial strategic advantage as competition heats up. As <a href="https://indices.roadtoautonomy.com/robotaxi/waymo/">Waymo</a> continues to expand, the company launched fully autonomous operations in Detroit, with both Grayson and Walt agreeing that commercial service will commence before the end of the year.</p><p>In Las Vegas, <a href="https://indices.roadtoautonomy.com/robotaxi/zoox/">Zoox</a> continues to deploy the Zoox way. Special Field Correspondent David Moss headed to Las Vegas to try out Zoox’s <a href="https://www.roadtoautonomy.com/zoox-t-mobile-arena-drop-off-field-report/">new drop-off location</a> at the T-Mobile Arena. The ride from Resorts World cost $42.26 and took 28 minutes, including extra loops around the Excalibur parking lot compared to $18.68 for a Waymo Ojai ride.</p><p>Across the Atlantic, London is emerging as a premier autonomy capital, with the guessing game heating up over whether Uber or its autonomous driving partners will secure the Automated Passenger Services (APS) permit. As Uber and its partners debate who gets the permit, Waymo is ramping up operations, preparing for what Grayson predicts will be a launch in London.</p><p>On the Foreign Autonomy Desk, <a href="https://indices.roadtoautonomy.com/robotaxi/xpeng/">XPeng</a> formally named its new robotaxi service YoYo, while Stellantis selected <a href="https://indices.roadtoautonomy.com/autonomous-driving-licensing/momenta/">Momenta</a> to power autonomous capabilities for its Peugeot and Jeep brands in mainland China.</p><p><br></p><p>Episode Chapters 0:00 Atoms and Zoox Field Reports05:15 Autonomy Roulette on Uber in Las Vegas08:20 Waymo Raises $5 Billion in Debt12:20 Waymo Launches Unsupervised Testing in Detroit14:53 Tesla Robotaxi 24/7 Timeline in Austin18:33 Uber and Pony.ai Head to London25:12 How Long Until Wayve Goes Unsupervised?33:21 Minneapolis Mayor Vetoes Driver-In Mandate as California Mandates U.S. R