Waymo's Expansive Week: The Playbook Is The Product 🗒️🚘

This Week in the Autonomy Economy, Waymo had a very big week and WeRide expanded to Switzerland and collected a check.

In 1993, Wu-Tang Clan dropped one of the best most important albums of all time when they took us into the 36 Chambers and forever changed hip-hop, while introducing us to C.R.E.A.M. (Cash Rules Everything Around Me), get the money, dollar dollar bill y'all.

WeRide appears to have deployed the C.R.E.A.M. playbook in Switzerland as the cantons of Zurich and Aargau are contributing CHF 3.8 million and CHF 1.9 million respectively, with Swiss Federal Railways adding CHF 1 million per year for up to five years.

Expand to a new country, and while you’re at it, collect a check. Get the money, dollar dollar bill y'all.

While WeRide is getting the money in Switzerland, back in the United States Waymo is deploying P.R.E.A.M. (Playbook Rules Everything Around Me). License the ops, dollar dollar bill y'all.

As Waymo scales the playbook, they are evolving from a pure-play robotaxi company to a licensing company with margins and profits on their mind. Deploy the playbook, license the Waymo Driver, become the Android of Autonomy.

P.R.E.A.M. License the ops, dollar dollar bill y'all.

👔The Road to Autonomy provides market intelligence and strategic advisory services to institutional investors and companies, delivering insights needed to stay ahead of emerging trends in the autonomy economy.

Discover how our market intelligence and strategic advisory services can empower your next move by sending an email to [email protected].

One-Time Briefings • Quarterly Subscriptions • Bespoke Advisory Services

Companies Mentioned: $GOOGL ( ▲ 3.53% ), $WRD ( ▲ 1.84% ) 

WHAT’S MOVING THE MARKETS | AUTONOMOUS VEHICLES

Waymo's Expansive Week: The Playbook Is The Product

The week before Thanksgiving belonged to Alphabet. First came Gemini 3 Pro. Then Waymo made three major announcements:

1. Fully Autonomous in Miami followed by Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, and Orlando.

2. Expansions to Minneapolis, Tampa and New Orleans

3. Expanded California DMV Service Area

Behind the headlines there is a playbook. Waymo detailed it out in a November 18th blog post:

Raising the real questions: What's in that playbook? Who actually built it? And if Waymo has solved deployment, what value does Uber truly bring? 

Uber would argue demand and routing algorithms. We'd argue not so fast. Waymo is a brand with access to elite engineering talent and Alphabet's balance sheet. If they've cracked deployment at scale, they can build or acquire anything the company would need to scale commercial operations. 

Waymo's emphasis on "teaching partners" hints at a strategic pivot, off-loading vehicle assets to operating partners who must run fleets according to the Waymo playbook and we would assume be subject to audit requirements. 

If this strategic move happens, Waymo's economics shift dramatically as the company becomes a global licensing business and the product is now the Waymo Driver, not a robotaxi service. If this happens, Waymo becomes the Android of Autonomy. 

While Waymo hints at this new strategic move, Uber is shifting to an asset-heavy model, putting robotaxis on their balance sheet in an effort to compete with Waymo. The strategic inversion is underway. 

Then there is the market that is still debating LiDAR vs. camera, rules-based vs. end-to-end, while the market debates autonomous driving is solved. It's no longer a technology problem, it's a profitable scaling problem. 

Waymo even said it outright: what was once a technical feat is now "routine." If launching new markets is routine, then the competitive frontier shifts entirely: Who can profitably operate autonomous fleets at scale? 

That's not a technology question. That's an operational question. And operations is precisely what Waymo claims it has systematized into a teachable, repeatable playbook.

Their 8-city expansion isn't about proving autonomy works. It's about proving the playbook scales, and setting the stage for what comes next.

Our take: Alphabet deserves a lot of credit for giving Waymo the resources they needed to build a business. 

Companies Mentioned: $GOOGL ( ▲ 3.53% ), $UBER ( ▲ 0.61% ) 

Waymo is currently ranked #1 with a bullish outlook on the AUTONOMY LEADERBOARD in the autonomous vehicle category.

ADVOCATING FOR THE AUTONOMY ECONOMY | SPONSORED

Automation and autonomy will strengthen the economy, create jobs, and reduce inflation. Council for Economic Resilience is dedicated to promoting the future of autonomy and automation for the benefit of the American public.

Council for Economic Resilience, Inc. is a 501(c)4 Advocacy Group

PIQUING OUR INTEREST

Up Close with Waymo’s Chinese-Built Zeekr Robotaxi InsideEVs got an up close look at Waymo’s Chinese-built Zeekr robotaxi in San Diego. 

Zoox Opens Limited Free Service in San Francisco Zoox continued its slow rollout this week with a free service operating in a limited area roughly 22 blocks long and 15 blocks wide.

Temasek Invests in WeRide and Pony.ai Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund continues to make investments in the autonomy economy as the fund opened new positions in both WeRide and Pony.ai. 

WeRide Secures Zurich Robotaxi Deployment WeRide secured another robotaxi deployment permit this week, and several million Swiss francs to go along with it. The cantons of Zurich and Aargau are contributing CHF 3.8 million and CHF 1.9 million respectively, with Swiss Federal Railways adding CHF 1 million per year for up to five years.

📰 Before these stories were featured here, they were available on X. Follow @RoadToAutonomy today to stay up-to-date on the latest news and developments shaping the autonomy economy.

SOCIAL BUZZ | AUTONOMOUS VEHICLES

Waymo’s Golden Authorization

Waymo has a great hand of cards to play now, but they still need more vehicles, more OEM partnerships and a non-Chinese manufactured contract-manufactured vehicle. If Waymo can grow their fleet and maintain the company’s current pace of scale, Alphabet will have another major business on its hands.

Our take: Alphabet had a very good week with the introduction of Gemini 3 and Waymo’s continued East Coast expansion and their massive California expansion authorization.

Companies Mentioned: $GOOGL ( ▲ 3.53% ) 

AUTONOMY MARKETS PODCAST

The Next Autonomous Vehicle M&A Wave Starts Below the Line

(November 18, 2025) Hugh Nguyen, Partner, Automotive Technology & Mobility, KPMG joined Grayson Brulte on The Road to Autonomy podcast to discuss the emerging wave of autonomous vehicle partnerships, the hidden value in fleet operations, and the coming M&A consolidation that will reshape the industry.

Watch on YouTube | Spotify | X

AUTONOMY MARKETS PODCAST

Waymo’s Six Stages of Autonomy

(November 22, 2025) This week on Autonomy Markets, Grayson Brulte and Walter Piecyk discuss Waymo’s accelerated nationwide expansion with new markets, Minneapolis, Tampa, New Orleans, Miami, Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, and Orlando getting ready to come online, while breaking down and coining the term Waymo’s Six Stages of Autonomy.

Watch on YouTube | Spotify | X

Companies Mentioned: $GOOGL ( ▲ 3.53% )

Autonomy Economy Market Intelligence

Now that you have read an issue of This Week in the Autonomy Economy, discover how The Road to Autonomy's institutional-grade market intelligence platform can help you cut through the media hype cycles and provide you with ongoing actionable intelligence based on technical reality and commercial viability.

Send an email to [email protected] to go beyond the headlines and access the strategic intelligence your institution needs to navigate the autonomy economy.

One-Time Briefings • Quarterly Subscriptions • Bespoke Advisory Services