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Waymo seeking about $16B near $110B valuation

bloomberg.com

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Re: Waymo seeking about $16B near $110B valuation

#71

Post by doctorpangloss »

pm90 wrote: post #7

Why does Google need outside investors? Is it a play to get a “serious” valuation since it would be vetted by outside parties? I guess Im questioning why Waymo doesn’t just IPO, or raise 100% private raise by Google.

a little kid is inevitably going to get killed by a waymo.

institutional finance is america's most powerful lobbyist. in the sense of the fund managers, the little RIAs, the grandmas holding SPY. they ARE the voters.

so to me, aside from making money, making money this way, for a lot of people, protects them from the political grandstanding and their fast demise in their absence.

Re: Waymo seeking about $16B near $110B valuation

#72

Post by sowbug »

mbb70 wrote: post #47
g947o wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I don't see an obvious way for Waymo to get enshittified. Raise the price?

Enshittification is a technique to make more money _without_ raising the price by simply making the product worse. Self-driving taxis have a high floor for 'making the product worse' because the car fundamentally has to drive itself.

It appears that enshittification has joined exponential and literally as words that used to mean specific things but are now just generic intensifiers.

Re: Waymo seeking about $16B near $110B valuation

#73

Post by everforward »

tgsovlerkhgsel wrote: post #29
simianwords wrote: post #24

why is Tesla much higher? I thought Tesla's market cap was because of the self driving feature.

The only semi rational thing that could explain it is the robots.

I don’t even think that’s rational, but it may be what’s propping them up.

Last earnings call Musk said Optimus wasn’t doing “meaningful work” at Tesla and as far as I’m aware they haven’t done meaningful work anywhere. I think they’re behind the curve there. Figure AI recently finished an apparently successful feasibility trial of their humanoid robots with BMW and Boston Dynamics has a deal with Hyundai for their Atlas humanoid robots.

I’m not even convinced humanoid robots are going to pan out in general. They only really make sense in a scenario where you’re back porting robotics to factories built for humans. That has value but feels temporary; factories designed to be robotic feel like the future, and there’s no need for them to do the job the same way a human would.

Re: Waymo seeking about $16B near $110B valuation

#74

Post by loeg »

dotBen wrote: post #15
pm90 wrote: post #7

Why does Google need outside investors? Is it a play to get a “serious” valuation since it would be vetted by outside parties? I guess Im questioning why Waymo doesn’t just IPO, or raise 100% private raise by Google.

It's a very capital intensive operation given the amount of vehicles that need to be carried on the balance sheet. There are many reasons why a conglomerate like Alphabet doesn't want to hold all of that directly on the balance sheet, which is why Waymo is run as a subsidiary with its own sources of capital. When I was at Uber 10 plus years ago and we were ideating autonomous vehicles. The general consensus was that…

> The general consensus was that we would run the technology platform and private equity would own fleets of cars built and operated to our specification.

Private equity, or private capital (debt investors)? Although I guess PC was less of a thing 10 years ago.

Re: Waymo seeking about $16B near $110B valuation

#75

Post by catlover76 »

nvch wrote: post #70
jFriedensreich wrote: post #35

No product had such a fast transition from novelty to "omg i never want to interact with a human again". I feel about 100% less stressed and happier using a waymo or riding motorbike or bicycle next to a waymo than with human drivers. I hope this next phase will bring availability and prices down. We need this in europe.

For me, this is the major selling point to own a car. I may drive a few times a week, and taxis might be much cheaper, but no way I'm going to deal with human taxi drivers if I have a choice.

Taxis are not a replacement for having a car for commuting for like 99% of people

Re: Waymo seeking about $16B near $110B valuation

#76

Post by crazygringo »

dotBen wrote: post #21
doctoboggan wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I don't see an obvious way for Waymo to get enshittified. Oh ye of little faith! Here are some ideas off the top of my head, I am sure the suits at Google already have a bigger list. * Ads in vehicle * Adjust route so you see partner companies or billboards * Offering alternative destinations (I see you are going to Burger King, would you rather go to our partner McDonalds?) * Listening to conversations in car * Se…

They already will be selling your ride data and there is no way they could monitor conversations in the car for commercial purposes (at least in Western countries). Ads in cars, partnerships with alternative destinations, etc. definitely would feel like enshitification for a demographic comparable to the hacker news one here. But these are all per session/user settings just like most of us have a paid Spotify account…

> If my dentist offers free rides to the office in return for my loyalty, I'm quite happy to take that.

That's actually a really interesting angle. The same way businesses often provide free parking now... what if they start providing free self-driving round trips?

E.g. spend $75 or more at Whole Foods, and get free round-trip up to 20 miles or something. Especially for bulky items like groceries where a car makes a big difference, I can totally see that becoming standard. Home Depot too. Plus entertainment like amusement parks, movie theaters, spas...

Re: Waymo seeking about $16B near $110B valuation

#77

Post by everforward »

doctoboggan wrote: post #9
thundergolfer wrote: post #4

I presume if you invest in Google you are indirectly (but significantly) invested in Waymo, like it is with Anthropic? Waymo is the best service I've used in many, many years. The jump from Uber->Waymo is similar to the quality jump from Taxi->Uber 12 years ago, but I don't see an obvious way for Waymo to get enshittified.

> I don't see an obvious way for Waymo to get enshittified. Oh ye of little faith! Here are some ideas off the top of my head, I am sure the suits at Google already have a bigger list. * Ads in vehicle * Adjust route so you see partner companies or billboards * Offering alternative destinations (I see you are going to Burger King, would you rather go to our partner McDonalds?) * Listening to conversations in car * Se…

The ads will be awful, because you’re effectively captive. You only control the volume and screen if they let you.

Re: Waymo seeking about $16B near $110B valuation

#78

Post by thinkmassive »

ronnier wrote: post #33
estearum wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No they won't. The product is so outrageously superior on every dimension to the status quo that municipalities will figure out whatever they need to in order to accommodate them. You think the folks on City Council enjoy chauffeuring their own children around and will block a solution to it?

Yes. It's already happening https://www.reddit.com/r/Minneapolis/comments/1pdzd2f/some_m...

In Virginia too, proposed in HB1124:

> The bill prohibits the use of autonomous vehicles as motor carriers of passengers or property without a human operator who (i) meets any state and federal qualifications for the operation of an autonomous vehicle; (ii) is physically present in such autonomous vehicle; and (iii) has the ability to monitor the performance of such vehicle and intervene in the operation of such vehicle, including operating such vehicle without the use of the automated driving system and stopping and turning off such vehicle if necessary.

https://lis.virginia.gov/bill-details/20261/HB1124

Re: Waymo seeking about $16B near $110B valuation

#79

Post by philipwhiuk »

everforward wrote: post #73
tgsovlerkhgsel wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The only semi rational thing that could explain it is the robots.

I don’t even think that’s rational, but it may be what’s propping them up. Last earnings call Musk said Optimus wasn’t doing “meaningful work” at Tesla and as far as I’m aware they haven’t done meaningful work anywhere. I think they’re behind the curve there. Figure AI recently finished an apparently successful feasibility trial of their humanoid robots with BMW and Boston Dynamics has a deal with Hyundai for their A…

> Boston Dynamics has a deal with Hyundai for their Atlas humanoid robots

Slightly depressing that we're back to replacing the big industrial robots rather than new markets.

Re: Waymo seeking about $16B near $110B valuation

#80

Post by bandofthehawk »

nvch wrote: post #70
jFriedensreich wrote: post #35

No product had such a fast transition from novelty to "omg i never want to interact with a human again". I feel about 100% less stressed and happier using a waymo or riding motorbike or bicycle next to a waymo than with human drivers. I hope this next phase will bring availability and prices down. We need this in europe.

For me, this is the major selling point to own a car. I may drive a few times a week, and taxis might be much cheaper, but no way I'm going to deal with human taxi drivers if I have a choice.

This seems weird to me, maybe it's a generational thing. Is it really that bad to share a car with someone? You don't have to talk to them the whole time.
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