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Alphabet's (GOOGL) Waymo to Resume Operations in Bay Area

Zacks Equity Research
·3-min read

Alphabet’s GOOGL self-driving project, Waymo will finally relaunch its fleet of self-driving minivans, taking into account all safety measures.

Reportedly, the tests will resume in the roads of San Francisco Bay Area starting Jun 8, which almost came to a halt in March because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Reportedly, these self-driving cars will currently not be used for any commercial purposes. These vans will deliver packages, including art kit deliveries for local children and services for the Blind and Visually Impaired.

The latest announcement is a testament to the company’s strengthening efforts toward bolstering presence in the autonomous driving space, which, per a report from Allied Market Research, is expected to witness a CAGR of 39.5% between 2019 and 2026, and reach $556.67 billion by 2026.

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Alphabet Inc. Price and Consensus

Alphabet Inc. Price and Consensus
Alphabet Inc. Price and Consensus

Alphabet Inc. price-consensus-chart | Alphabet Inc. Quote

Waymo’s Other Initiatives

Alphabet has been aggressively strengthening Waymo’s initiatives, which are likely to help it in staying ahead of the curve. Markedly, Alphabet enjoys a first-mover advantage in the Level 4 Cars race.

In addition to the latest move, the company recently acquired Latent Logic, a British AI company that specializes in a form of machine learning, namely imitation learning, which is expected to make simulation technology of Waymo more advanced and realistic. This, in turn, will strengthen the behavior prediction capability of Waymo.

Further, the company’s partnership with Lyft helped it in making some of its self-driving minivans available to the latter’s customers.

Additionally, Alphabet is merging local delivery and long-haul trucking operations into a single business line called Waymo Via.

At CES 2020, the company announced that Waymo vehicles have driven more than 20 million miles since its introduction in 2009, a feat made possible because of innovative AI skills and deep learning techniques.

Intense Competition

Alphabet’s growing self-driving initiatives are expected to intensify competition against other tech majors, namely Amazon AMZN, Yandex YNDX and Baidu BIDU, among others, to eke out a niche in the autonomous driving space.

Baidu recently received license for five of its self-driving vehicles in China. Further, the launch of its Apollo Robotaxi fleet of 45 self-driving cars in Changsha — Hunan province in China — for trial operations in urban road environments remains a major positive. Additionally, the company teamed up with Volvo to launch Level 4 vehicles in 2021.

Amazon also invested in Aurora, a startup that develops technology to power fully autonomous vehicles.

Meanwhile, Yandex has invested $35 million in its self-driving program to date. Additionally, the company’s autonomous vehicles have driven 2 million miles to date.

Nevertheless, Alphabet’s growing autonomous driving initiatives are likely to help it in staying ahead of the curve. Its robust self-driving technology and trend of winning deals for testing driverless cars are acting as tailwinds. Waymo One provides Alphabet a first mover advantage, which is anticipated to strengthen the company’s competitive position against peers.

Zacks Rank

Alphabet currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

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