Alphabet Inc.'s (NASDAQ: GOOG) (NASDAQ: GOOGL) Waymo has revealed its first custom-designed robotaxi chip, a purpose-built 5-nanometer ASIC delivering more than 1,000 TOPS of machine-learning performance for front-end sensor processing in its newest Ojai vehicles. Custom Chip Handles Real-Time Sensor Processing
Waymo described the silicon in a press release as "a specialized ML powerhouse engineered exclusively to process, fuse, and run advanced neural networks on raw sensor data in real time." The chip handles streams from lidar, radar and cameras before feeding processed information into the vehicle's core machine-learning system.
The Alphabet unit said its latest system can process data from 13 high-resolution cameras simultaneously and in real time, including temporal denoising designed to improve low-light perception. Waymo has increased raw onboard compute power 20-fold over eight years.
Waymo Still Relies On Outside Chipmakers
The ASIC does not replace outside chipmakers. Waymo said it continues working with Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (NASDAQ: AMD), Micron Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: MU), Nvidia Corp. (NASDAQ: NVDA), Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. (OTC: SSNLF), Sandisk Corporation (NASDAQ: SNDK), Socionext Inc. (OTC: SOCNF) and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (NYSE: TSM). Nvidia's DRIVE AGX Thor can deliver up to 1,000 INT8 TOPS, although Waymo has not disclosed the precision behind its own TOPS figure and the architectures serve different workloads.
The approach contrasts with rival Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA), which relies on cameras and AI software rather than Waymo's lidar-radar-camera sensor suite. Tesla also designs autonomy silicon and said this year that development of its AI5 and AI6 inference chips is progressing, with production targeted for 2027 and 2028. Reuters reported Tesla is preparing to launch its purpose-built Cybercab as the U.S. robotaxi race accelerates.
Tesla's expansion has prompted investors to debate whether it could eventually challenge Waymo's lead.
Ojai Rollout Expands Waymo's Robotaxi Lead
Waymo's chip arrives alongside the rollout of the Zeekr-built Ojai, which uses its sixth-generation Driver. Waymo unveiled the updated Ojai in January and is scaling Waymo-enabled vehicle capacity toward tens of thousands annually at its Mesa, Arizona, factory.
Waymo says its compute system runs two independent engines in parallel so one can take over if the other fails, a design it considers essential because no human driver is available as backup.
The company now provides more than 500,000 fully autonomous electric-vehicle trips per week, a milestone that keeps it ahead of Tesla and Amazon-backed Zoox in U.S. robotaxi scale as both rivals expand.