Waymo closes a $5 billion term loan, its first debt financing

Waymo closes a $5 billion term loan, its first debt financing

8 October 2026: Waymo has closed a $5 billion term loan, the first time the autonomous ride-hailing company has borrowed rather than raised equity. Steve Fieler, its chief financial officer, announced the loan on the company blog and said the money will go towards expanding the fully autonomous service in the United States and abroad.

Not yet independently verified. The loan size and lender list come from Waymo's own blog post alone. No second source confirms them. We will update this when it can be confirmed, and remove this note.

Lenders in three tiers, one bookrunner

The loan was syndicated, and Waymo names the participants in three tiers. PIMCO, Blackstone and Sixth Street are the lead syndicated lenders. Capital Group, Loomis Sayles and T. Rowe Price are listed as significant lenders. A third group of additional lenders is made up of Apollo, Blue Owl, Diameter Capital Partners, Franklin Templeton, Fidelity Management & Research Company, HPS Investment Partners and Oaktree.

Goldman Sachs acted as sole lead bookrunner, the bank that ran the book of lender commitments. Waymo adds that the lenders may include investment funds, client accounts or vehicles managed or advised by them or their affiliates.

Debt beside a $16 billion equity round

The company marks the milestone in its own words: "Today, Waymo closed a $5 billion term loan, marking our first debt financing." Earlier in 2026 Waymo closed a $16 billion equity investment, and it describes the loan as a complement to that equity, adding financial flexibility and a stronger balance sheet.

In the month before the announcement Waymo launched in its fifteenth US city and announced new international cities. Fieler wrote that "our commercial operations continue to grow at a record pace" and that the company wants to "continue leading the autonomous vehicle industry responsibly". He added: "As Waymo grows, we remain fiercely focused on improving road safety and making transportation more accessible."

What a newer city looks like: Houston

Houston shows the stage a recent launch reaches. Waymo opened its Houston service in February, and from 20 August anyone in the city can download the app and hail a fully autonomous ride. The company says more than 100,000 riders from Houston's interest list had ridden by then.

The city hosted over 1 million visitors for the World Cup, and Waymo says it served as a way for many of them to reach games at Reliant Stadium. Raul Gallegos, First Vice President of the National Federation for the Blind of Texas, is quoted in the post as saying: "Waymo will be fully available in Houston."

The first international groundwork: Toronto

On 16 October Waymo said it is laying the groundwork for a service in Toronto, with local facilities and jobs, and a target of welcoming the first riders in 2028. Vehicles will appear on Toronto streets in the coming days, driven manually at first. The rollout is phased: high-definition mapping of local street networks, then testing with trained autonomous specialists behind the wheel.

Element Fleet Management, headquartered in Toronto, will provide end-to-end fleet management. Waymo cites existing Canadian ties in the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, a long-term investor, and Magna International, a manufacturing partner. Residents can sign up for updates at waymo.com/waymo-in-canada.

The safety record Waymo published in September

On 24 September Waymo published updated safety data covering more than 270 million fully autonomous miles through the end of June 2026, driven in Atlanta, Austin, Los Angeles, Phoenix and San Francisco. Measured against human drivers, the company reports 841 fewer injury-causing crashes, an 82% reduction. It reports 95% fewer crashes with serious injury or worse, and reductions of 93% for crashes involving pedestrians, 86% for cyclists and 82% for motorcyclists.

The 841 figure is an estimate that assumes a conservative baseline of at least one injured person per crash. The full data and methodology are published by Waymo at waymo.com/safety/impact.

Sources

• Waymo blog: Waymo closes $5 billion debt financing (Steve Fieler, CFO), 8 October 2026
• Waymo: Houston open to all, 20 August 2026
• Waymo: Across 270 million autonomous miles (safety data), 24 September 2026
• Waymo: Hello Toronto! Waymo is en route, 16 October 2026