GOOG
Alphabet’s robotaxi side quest gets a new chapter
Waymo just introduced Ojai, a fresh robotaxi model that adds another shiny toy to Alphabet’s autonomous-driving garage. In a market where every AV player is basically yelling “we’re this close,” this is Waymo saying it still intends to be more than a demo reel.
Why you should care
For investors, this is less about the car’s name and more about what it signals: Waymo is still investing in product development while the driverless race heats up. That matters because autonomous vehicles have spent years in the “promising, but show me the money” bucket, and Alphabet has been quietly taking the long game.
The bigger game board
Waymo’s progress can matter for GOOG in a few ways:
- it keeps Alphabet’s moonshot narrative from turning into dust
- it helps Waymo stay visible against rival AV efforts from Tesla, Amazon-linked fleets, and a bunch of well-funded startups
- it gives Alphabet another angle on future mobility revenue if ride-hailing and fleet deployments keep scaling
Big picture: if Waymo keeps shipping real hardware and real service expansion, Alphabet’s robotaxi bet stops looking like a side quest and starts looking like a legitimate growth engine.