The custom chip driving Waymo’s robotaxi ambitions

Plus, a US government lab is probing Chinese lidar companies

Author

Kirsten Korosec
August 21, 2026

Image credits: Waymo

Welcome back to TechCrunch Mobility — your central hub for news and insights on the future of transportation.

Waymo gets a lot of attention for its fast-paced expansion. And for good reason; it seems like every week, the company’s robotaxis are arriving in a new city, or expanding within an existing service area. 

We’ve known for a while that Waymo’s sixth-generation self-driving system — which debuted in its next-generation Ojai robotaxi — is central to those ambitions. But now we have a better understanding about why. 

The company, which just opened its Ojai robotaxi to all riders in Los Angeles, Phoenix, and San Francisco, has repeatedly said that this next-gen vehicle is cheaper to build, operate, and maintain — ingredients required if the company has any hopes of someday turning a profit. 

What was less clear, until this week, was just how hands-on and vertically integrated Waymo has become as it chases that goal.

The company shared this week that it built a custom silicon chip — specifically a 5 nm ASIC chip, which is designed to handle the massive influx of raw data before it reaches the core “brain” of the self-driving system. (To get a sense of how much data, consider that the Waymo Ojai has 13 high-fidelity cameras.) Waymo said the chip delivers more than 1,000 TOPS (trillions of operations per second) of computing performance, a statistic that puts it roughly in the same performance range as Nvidia’s latest DRIVE AGX Thor automotive processor, a powerful computer designed for automated driving applications.

The end result, Waymo says, is a system that has “unmatched efficiency and performance.” The upshot: Waymo contends that this chip is a critical piece of a system that can react fast and safely in complex, high-density environments — like cities. 

It’s worth noting that Waymo isn’t working alone on compute. The company listed a slew of partners, some for the first time, that includes AMD, Micron, Nvidia, Samsung, Sandisk, Socionext, and TSMC.

A little bird

Image credits: Bryce Durbin

A couple of little birds spoke to Sean O’Kane (senior reporter, special projects at TechCrunch) about a rather curious investigation being conducted by the Idaho National Laboratory. 

According to our sources, the lab is evaluating whether Chinese lidar sensors might pose a security risk if they become widely used on vehicles in the United States. That is notable on its own. But what got our attention is that the research is being funded by a company — or a group of companies — in the electric and autonomous vehicle industries. 

O’Kane reached out to numerous companies, including Rivian, General Motors, Ford, Kodiak, Lucid Motors, Nuro, and Uber. And all of these companies said they were unaware of the review. Aurora, Nvidia, and Zoox didn’t respond to questions. 

Got a tip for us? Email Kirsten Korosec at [email protected] or my Signal at kkorosec.07, or email Sean O'Kane at [email protected]. 

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Deals!

Image credits: Bryce Durbin

Also, the startup incubated within Rivian, has raised another $150 million in a Series D round led by Prysm Capital with participation from existing backers Eclipse, Greenoaks, and MVP Ventures. Also has raised $455 million since it spun out of Rivian in March 2025.

The raise is notable, and not just because Also has already reached a Series D round after launching just a little more than a year ago. The company’s mission has also evolved, which helps explain why it still needs to keep raising cash. 

When Also launched in spring 2025, it was described as a micromobility company focused on pedal-assist electric bikes and commercial cargo quads. Now it is a “Palo Alto-based technology company building the world's most capable driven and autonomous small electric vehicles.” 

That autonomous driving component popped up earlier this year when Also closed a $200 million round and announced a multiyear commercial agreement with DoorDash to develop and deploy autonomous delivery vehicles. 

Sidewalk delivery robot company Serve Robotics also had a notable and very timely deal this week. You might recall that earlier this month, Serve reported during its earning call that Uber had reduced its use of its robots on the app; that partnership is set to end next year. Separately, Uber also sold all of its shares in the company. 

Months before these changes, Serve was working on several other deals that were recently finalized, according to insiders. Serve has partnered with Grubhub to use its sidewalk robots, starting in Chicago, Los Angeles, and Alexandria, Virginia. Serve also announced that its existing partnership with DoorDash has expanded to San Jose, California, and Washington, D.C. 

Uber’s retreat from Serve illustrates an important lesson for any company attempting to scale: Always diversify. And it seems Serve has managed to do that.

Other deals that got my attention …

Einride, the Swedish electric and autonomous trucking company, struck a deal with Tesla to buy 500 of its electric Semis and make the electric big rigs available to its customers, which include Amazon. The Tesla Semis will be added in phases to Einride’s fleet over the next 24 months, starting in September. Reminder: Tesla is trying to scale up but recently pulled back on promises to reach “volume production” in 2026.

Grounded, the Detroit-based startup that customizes electric and gas-powered vans, raised a $5 million seed round, with repeat investments from existing backers Also Capital and Chicago-based early-stage firm The 81 Collection, along with Animal Capital, the Michigan Outdoor Innovation Fund, and “various SpaceX alumni,” according to founder and CEO Sam Shapiro.

Uber said it is investing in, and partnering with, drone delivery company Zipline. Uber and Zipline didn’t disclose the investment amount but did share one lofty goal: to make 1 million deliveries per day using the startup’s drones by the end of 2029.

Vessev, a New Zealand startup developing electric hydrofoil boats, raised $19 million in a Series A round led by Blackbird Ventures. New investors GD1 and Rypples joined alongside existing investors K1W1, Icehouse Ventures, Shasta Ventures, NZVC, and existing angel investors.

Notable reads and other tidbits

Image credits: Bryce Durbin

Amazon wants its drone delivery service to reach nearly 500 U.S. cities by the end of 2026, expanding its current footprint sixfold. 

Bedrock Robotics, an autonomous vehicle technology startup founded by veterans of Waymo and Segment, says excavators equipped with its self-driving system are now operating fully autonomously at three large customer sites in Nevada and Texas.

Hyundai’s luxury car brand Genesis unveiled a seven-seater electric SUV called the GV90 that will compete with other hefty EVs like the Cadillac Escalade IQ and Rivian R1S. 

Tesla is one of 11 carmakers in China recalling millions of vehicles over its hidden emergency door releases, which can trap occupants in the event of a crash or a fire. Xiaomi, Xpeng, and Geely brands Zeekr and Lynk & Co. are also recalling EVs.

Tesla, Uber, and Waymo all received permits from Nevada regulators that will allow them to operate commercial robotaxi services in Clark County, home to Las Vegas. Together, these permits would deploy up to 8,000 robotaxis across the county over the next 12 months. It’s unlikely that all 8,000 of these vehicles will land in Vegas over the next year, but even a fraction of that amount will affect the city.  

Uber was fined €825 million ($966 million) by the Dutch Data Protection Authority for using automated systems to deactivate or suspend driver accounts without adequately informing them — a violation of European data protection law. 

Uber also had a slew of other autonomous vehicle-related announcements this week, including early rider testing in London with partner Wayve; the launch of a robotaxi service in Zagreb, Croatia, with Pony.ai and Verne; and driverless rides in Dubai with Baidu.

Waymo has responded to questions from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration as part of the regulator’s investigation into a crash in which a robotaxi struck a child at low speed. The catch: The responses (at least the ones that have been released so far) are all redacted.