Waymo, the self-driving car company owned by Google parent Alphabet, recently raised $5.6 billion in its latest funding round. The round included major investors such as Andreessen Horowitz, Fidelity, Perry Creek, Silver Lake, Tiger Global and T. Rowe Price.

Waymo plans to leverage this funding to expand its autonomous ride-hailing service, Waymo One, which already operates in San Francisco, Phoenix and Los Angeles. Through a new partnership with Uber, Waymo’s presence will also expand to Austin and Atlanta, the company said in a Reuters report on the matter.

This new investment aligns with Alphabet’s long-term plan to inject $5 billion into Waymo over several years, a strategy outlined by Alphabet CFO Ruth Porat in July.

According to Reuters, Waymo has been making steady progress in the autonomous vehicle landscape, racking up millions of test miles and securing regulatory permits, including one from the California Public Utilities Commission in 2022, which was a key milestone in the California market. highly regulated ride-sharing services. .

The funding shows growing confidence in Waymo’s ambitions for autonomous ride-hailing services, despite regulatory scrutiny and skepticism from across the industry, the Reuters report suggests.