A new future for self-driving cars can be made a reality with the recent valuation of the self-driving development company Waymo. A recent report by Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) analysts demonstrated that Waymo can have a valuation of around $70 billion. Along with Waymo's recent partnership with the transportation network company Lyft, Waymo appears to be leading the future market of self-driving cars, launching itself way ahead of its competitors.
Waymo, a Google (NASDAQ: GOOGL) owned car development company, began at the end of 2016. A company dedicated to self-driving cars, Waymo dedicates itself to its mission to "make it safe and easy for people and things to move around." Led by CEO John Krafcik, Waymo is currently headquartered in California, USA, the same area as Google. Since its establishment as a company, Waymo has already made progress with its self-driving cars, with 125,000 miles driven. Nevertheless, Waymo's achievements are a manifestation of Waymo's mission as outlined by Krafcik at the very beginning of the company's establishment last December. The former president of Hyundai Motor America, a subsidiary company of Hyundai (KRX: 005380), John Krafcik boldly stated that he believes "this technology can begin to reshape some of the ten trillion miles that motor vehicles travel..with safer, more efficient and more accessible forms of transport."
The current partnership with Lyft holds greater significance for the automotive start-up company. Given that Lyft is currently one of the biggest ride service companies in the United States, Waymo can now test its cars alongside the helpful aid of an already successful ride-sharing company. Morgan Stanley analysts expanded on this fact, suggesting that Waymo can lead the future for self-driving cars and "drive the autonomous transition." In addition to the partnership with Lyft, Waymo is expected to account for more of 10% of Alphabet Inc's market value in the future.
While Waymo dedicates themselves to a new future of self-driving cars, they are not the only company that is doing so. Competitors such as the automotive manufacturer Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA), the ride-sharing app Uber, and the longtime multinational automotive company Ford (NYSE: F) are also setting their sights on autonomous cars. With Waymo's valuation at $70 billion however, these companies are already behind with Uber's value at $68 billion, Tesla's value at $51 billion and Ford's value at $43.5 billion.
For Tesla, there has already been testing for its self-driving cars. However, Waymo has surpassed the amount of miles Tesla has clocked in at more than 635,000 miles, as opposed to Tesla's 550 miles. In addition, Waymo boasts less "disengagements", or times during testing when the driver must reclaim control of the car. While Tesla drivers have had to take control of their self driving cars 182 times within 550 miles, Waymo has managed to disengage only 124 times every 5,000 miles. Likewise, Ford has only managed to drive 590 miles with its cars, with a disengagement every 196 miles.
Perhaps the most bitter competition in the self-driving car industry is between Waymo and Uber. Uber, the well-known ride-hailing company is currently being sued by Waymo. Anthony Levandowski, a former Waymo employee, had allegedly stolen downloaded important documents from Waymo before joining Uber with his self-driving company, Otto.
Although not around for a long time, Waymo is already laying new roads towards a future for self-driving cars, leaving its competitors miles away in the dust.