Waymo began seeking more than $3 billion in debt financing in early September. Within weeks, the autonomous vehicle company had enlarged the deal to $5 billion.
On 8 October 2026, Waymo closed the $5 billion term loan, its first debt financing.
Waymo described the financing as an important step in becoming a “scaling commercial enterprise”. The capital is intended to speed the expansion of its fully autonomous ride-hailing service in the United States and internationally.
PIMCO, Blackstone and Sixth Street led the syndicated loan, while Goldman Sachs was the sole lead bookrunner. Capital Group, Loomis Sayles, T. Rowe Price, Apollo, Blue Owl, Diameter Capital Partners, Franklin Templeton, Fidelity Management & Research Company, HPS Investment Partners and Oaktree also lent to the company.
The lenders were set to receive a spread of more than 500 basis points above the benchmark rate.
Waymo is Alphabet’s autonomous vehicle technology company, and had already raised a $16 billion equity investment earlier in 2026. Its domestic robotaxi service reached 15 US cities after it launched in its fifteenth city in September 2026.
As of early September, Waymo had more than 500,000 fare-paying trips a week across 14 cities. It had roughly 4,000 vehicles in domestic service as of May 2026, a fleet supporting operations across 15 cities by October.
The company is targeting 1 million paid rides a week across 20 cities worldwide by the end of 2026. It has active testing operations in London and Tokyo, where launches are planned. Waymo has also said it would begin operating fully driverless vehicles in San Diego, Las Vegas, Tampa and Denver.
Waymo received permission to charge for driverless rides in California in 2023. Its expansion is also taking place while the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration investigates an incident in which a Waymo vehicle struck a child near a school.
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