Alphabet’s (GOOGL) Waymo Brings Waymo One to Maps App


Alphabet


GOOGL

is leaving no stone unturned to bolster its presence in the self-driving space on the back of growth initiatives taken by its self-driving arm, Waymo.

Waymo recently teamed up with Google’s Maps,which is a testament to the aforesaid fact. The intention behind the partnership is to ensure a seamless booking experience for Waymo’s autonomous ride-hailing service called Waymo One.

Notably, customers will be able to book Waymo One directly from the Maps app. Waymo One will be added in the ride-sharing and transit tab of the app.

We believe that the latest move will drive customer momentum, which, in turn, will boost the company’s number of rides as well as increase the total miles covered by Waymo robotaxis.

Growing Autonomous Driving Space

The latest move bodes well for the company’s strengthening efforts toward bolstering its self-driving business as well as offerings.

Apart from the Maps integration, Waymo is currently in talks with outside investors for raising as much as $4 billion in additional capital.

Theendeavors will help Alphabet rapidly penetrate the booming autonomous driving space.

Per a report from Research and Markets, sales of autonomous vehicles across the globe are expected to witness a CAGR of 40.3% between 2020 and 2030, and hit $58-million units by 2030.

Further, a report from Mordor Intelligence states that the worldwide driverless vehicle market is expected to seea CAGR of 18.06% between 2021 and 2026.

Intensifying Competition

Given theupbeat scenario, not only Alphabet but also companies like

Amazon


AMZN

,

Intel


INTC

, Apple and

Baidu


BIDU

are making every effort to capitalize on the growth prospects present in the autonomous driving space.

Amazon’s buyout of Zoox, a developer of autonomous ride-hailing vehicles, remains a major positive. Further, the company’s launch of its first self-driving robotaxi strengthened its position in the autonomous driving space.

Meanwhile, Intelis gaining strong on the low power consumption of Mobileye chips and the ability to create maps for self-driving systems. Further, the company intends to introduce an autonomous ride-hailing service in Israel in early 2022.

Further, Baidu is gaining hugely from the expansion of Apollo Go Robotaxi service, which features about 100 pick-up and drop-off stations across several residential as well as business areas.

Then again, Apple is planning to produce self-driving car technology and introduce autonomous vehicles, which could include its breakthrough battery technology by 2024.

Nevertheless, Alphabet’s growing autonomous driving initiatives are likely to help it in staying ahead of the curve.

Currently, Alphabet sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see


the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here


.

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