You do not hear too much about autonomous vehicles in the news at present, but the technology is still developing and finding practical applications. One company that certainly believes it has a bright future is Alphabet, the parent company of Google which has announced a further $5 Billion investment in its self-driving subsidiary, Waymo. 

Ruth Porat, the company’s chief financial officer, announced the new funds stating, “This new round of funding, which is consistent with recent annual investment levels, will enable Waymo to continue to build the world’s leading autonomous driving technology company.” 

Waymo currently offers a fully driverless ride-hailing service in San Francisco and Phoenix, and more recently opened operations in Los Angeles, with Austin, Texas the next city trageted. Alphabet and Google CEO Sundar Pichai says it is currently delivering well over 50,000 paid rides per week.  

The company is thought to be targeting lucrative airport business and is also making the service available 24 hours a day.

The challenges of implementation and the limited public appetite for self driving car has moved the focus of the industry towards autonomous taxi and bus services as well as delivery vehicles. These can operate in a more strictly defined area where road marking, signs and mapping are known to be up to scratch.