The title picture comes from: Bloomberg, this article comes from WeChat public account: East Forty Capital (ID: DsstCapital) , author: Chai good news
Waymo, backed by Alphabet, has always left an impression on the industry as “the ears of the business world are developed, and we are dedicated to the development of unmanned vehicles.” However, from the announcement of the sale of lidar to car companies in 2019 to the current “seeking foreign aid”, it has been proved that Waymo’s commercialization pressure is long overdue.
The annual revenue is only hundreds of thousands of dollars, but the valuation has exceeded 100 billion dollars. The legend of Waymo, the “autonomous brother”, continues.
In 2009, Waymo was born from Google Labs as a self-driving car program. In December 2016, Waymo became independent from Google and became Alphabet (Google) Parent company) .
On March 3, 2020, Waymo, with 11 years of research and development and 3 years of independence, announced that it has obtained the first external investment and set a single record for financing in this field: US $ 2.25 billion.
According to Waymo, the investment was mainly made by Silver Lake (Silver Lake Capital) , the Canada Pension Plan Investment Committee and Abu Dhabi Leaded by sovereign wealth fund Mubalada, other investors include auto parts supplier Magna International (Magna) and Andreessen Horowitz, and automotive zeroSales giant AutoNation, and Alphabet.
Waymo, backed by Alphabet, has always left an impression on the industry as “ignoring business affairs with both ears and devoting itself to developing unmanned vehicles.” However, from the announcement of the sale of lidar to car companies in 2019 to the current “seeking foreign aid”, it has been proved that Waymo’s commercialization pressure is long overdue.
Luxury class entry: SoftBank vision, Ali capital co-occurrence
The first batch of external institutions that became Waymo shareholders has a luxurious background.
Silver Lake Capital is a global PE with a management scale of more than 10 billion U.S. dollars. It is an Alibaba investor; Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth fund Mubalada is a sovereign wealth fund that is on par with the Saudi Public Investment Fund and is the funder of the SoftBank Vision Fund. ; AutoNation is the largest car dealer in the United States, and has established a cooperative relationship with Waymo, bringing actual orders to Waymo.
It is worth mentioning that in the investor list of Waymo, Lyft’s former investors and partners appear.
In 2018, Magna invested $ 200 million in Lyft. Since then, Magna has not completely cut off its relationship with Lyft, and has worked closely on other software and hardware related to autonomous driving.
However, in January 2020, two years after cooperating with Lyft to develop autonomous driving technology, Magna said that this partnership is coming to an end.
Magna said, “This auto component maker plans to focus on assisted driving products rather than fully autonomous driving technology.”
From the perspective of pursuing autonomous driving technology, Waymo from Google Labs is indeed a more suitable choice than Lyft. Silver Lake Capital CEO Egon Durban once praised, “Waymo is an absolute leader in the field of autonomous driving technology.”
As early as 2009, Google has started research and development of autonomous driving technology, chaired by X Lab led by co-founder Sergey Brin.
In December 2016, Google separated its autonomous driving business and established a wholly-owned subsidiary, and Waymo was born.
In April 2017, Waymo officially stepped out of the laboratory and invitedArizona residents join the Early Passenger Program (early rider program) “, test ride Waymo driverless cars, and give Google feedback on the ride experience. Among the first 400 passengers, students who went to college had aunts with visual impairments and couples who went on dates.
This is the world’s first Robotaxi service, and it is also the prototype of Waymo One.
At the end of 2018, Waymo launched Waymo One, a commercial self-driving taxi service. Phoenix residents can call for a car through a mobile app.
In December 2019, the first anniversary of Waymo One’s launch, the cumulative number of passengers picked up has exceeded 100,000, and the number of single-day orders is three times that when it was just launched. In addition, Waymo One has expanded its service area to California, serving more than 6,000 passengers in the first month of operation, and has exceeded 20 million miles in autonomous driving public road tests, far ahead of other competitors.
In the field of autonomous driving, mastering data means mastering opportunities.
However, for this immature circuit, the most critical business issue of “profitability” has been a long way off.
The profit dilemma of “Swallowing the Golden Beast”: burned down tens of billions of dollars, earning only millions per year
TheInformation said that in 2019, Waymo’s revenue was only hundreds of thousands of dollars, and the annual operating cost was as high as one billion dollars.
The day after receiving the huge amount of financing, Waymo launched a new Disney-animated advertisement that focused on the company’s future earning plans.
The ad titled “Re-imagining Transport with Waymo Drivers” describes the use of Waymo driverless taxis and trucks in urban transportation and logistics.
However, for the L4-level autonomous driving described in the advertisement, several investors have told China Investment Network that it will take 10 years to become popular.
For many years, Waymo has burned money at an alarming rate.
Google previously disclosed that before the spin-off, the company had invested more than $ 1.1 billion in autonomous driving projects; after the spin-off, Waymo’s “burning money” speed did notSlowing, with annual operating costs of about $ 1 billion.
Accumulated, Waymo has “burned out” more than 4 billion U.S. dollars (27.8 billion yuan) . For years, the high costs behind Waymo’s high valuations have been paid by Alphabet.
Waymo currently accepts external financing and is the only option for Alphabet to no longer provide blood alone.
Burning money continues.
The New York Times said that currently, Robotaxi for the C-end (WaymoOne) is the only landing scene for Waymo, and its total revenue in 2019 It all comes from this.
Waymo One is the company’s passenger self-driving car-hailing service. It is also the world’s first officially launched service of this type. It is currently only available in the EastValley area of Phoenix, Arizona.
Waymo’s other business is Waymo Via for the B side.
Waymo Via is the company’s cargo transportation platform with a modest fleet and is currently being tested on highways in California, Arizona, Georgia, Texas, and New Mexico.
It is worth mentioning that although the profitability has not yet been certified, the head of the “golden beast” in the field of unmanned driving is gradually becoming more practical.
In December 2019, Alphabet changed coaches. Larry Page and Sergey Brin, who previously led Google ’s autonomous driving research and development project, resigned, and Sundar Pichai, a professional manager who is good at controlling costs, took over.
The New York Times mentioned that since then, Alphabet has become more and more cautious about Waymo’s development, considering that it is more a commercial landing, and Waymo must develop more profitable projects.
The problem of “commercialization” is urgently needed.
Ride-hailing, logistics, private cars, and public transportation are the four target areas for Waymo’s previously unmanned technology application deployment. Because of this commercial route, Morgan Stanley previously raised Waymo’s valuation To $ 175 billion.
But in September 2019, Morgan Stanley believes that Waymo’s self-driving car will take longer than expected to be commercialized, so according to a discounted cash flow analysis, Morgan Stanley removed Waymo’s valuation from US $ 175 billion is reduced to US $ 105 billion, a reduction of up to 40%.
After the financing, Waymo said that in order to increase profits, it will begin testing the self-driving truck Waymo Via on commercial routes in two US states. “Waymo Via can be used for all forms of cargo delivery, including short and long distance transportation, from interstate transportation to local distribution, etc.”
However, Waymo’s resistance to technology sharing in the past has greatly hindered the landing of its business.
The Bloomberg report has stated that automakers believe Waymo is holding back major technology supply and licensing deals and is fighting for user experience control.
Thus, “Waymo has invested in establishing a map business, building a lidar with a price advantage, and completing the feat of self-driving taxi services, but if it wants to get mainstream cars on the road to commercialization, Manufacturers need to make concessions, “Bloomberg said.
This article is from WeChat public account: East Forty Capital (ID: DsstCapital) , author: Chai good news