Alphabet has announced it is committing an additional $5 billion in funding for its self-driving subsidiary Waymo as part of a multi-year investment plan.

The plans were unveiled by the Google-owner's chief financial officer Ruth Porat during its second quarter earnings call on Tuesday.

“This new round of funding, which is consistent with recent annual investment levels, will enable Waymo to continue to build the world’s leading autonomous driving technology company,” said Porat.

Citing Waymo as an “important example” of the tech giant’s long-standing investments, Porat added that Google will focus on strengthening overall performance of its ‘other bets’ unit.

The unit includes segments that focus on innovative projects in a range of markets, with several firms including life science companies Verily and Calico, Google Ventures and drone company Wing as part of it.

The unit brought in $365 million during the quarter, up from $285 million a year ago, the report said.

It also recorded losses of $1.13 billion in the June quarter, from $813 million in the same period last year.

Chief executive Sundar Pichai said on the earnings call that Waymo, which has completed two million trips so far, is now making 50,000 weekly paid public rides, mainly in San Francisco and Phoenix.

Last month, Waymo opened its robotaxi service in San Francisco, following a debut in the Phoenix area in 2020. At the time, Waymo raised $2.25 billion from a range of investors, following a second funding round of $2.5 billion in 2021.

Earlier this year, Waymo recalled software previously used in its autonomous vehicle fleet after two cars crashed into the same pickup truck.

The company said that in December 2023, a Waymo robotaxi driving in Phoenix, United States hit a backwards facing pickup truck being “improperly towed” ahead of the car so that the truck was persistently angled across a centre turn lane and a traffic lane.

Following contact, the tow truck and towed pickup truck did not pull over or stop traveling, and a few minutes later another Waymo vehicle hit the same pickup truck while it was being towed in the same manner.

---