Waymo計劃融資40億美元，發展不如預期、管理層動盪，上市路在何方？

{"type":"doc","content":[{"type":"blockquote","content":[{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"據外媒報道，谷歌旗下自動駕駛汽車公司 Waymo 擬融資最多 40 億美元。管理層動盪下，Waymo 上市路在何方？"}]}]},{"type":"heading","attrs":{"align":null,"level":2},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"Waymo 擬融資 40 億美元，意圖上市"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"color","attrs":{"color":"#494949","name":"user"}}],"text":" "}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"color","attrs":{"color":"#494949","name":"user"}}],"text":"彭博社 5 月 20 日消息，Waymo 正在與外部投資者商討籌集多達 40 億美元的額外資金，以推動其自動駕駛工作的開展。知情人士透露，該公司還討論了最終公開上市的計劃，並計劃從其母公司 Alphabet 分離出來。"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"color","attrs":{"color":"#494949","name":"user"}}],"text":" "}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"color","attrs":{"color":"#494949","name":"user"}}],"text":"PitchBook 高級分析師 Asad Hussain 在談到 Waymo 最新的融資計劃時表示，“這只是表明開發這項技術仍然需要大量資金。”“母公司外部的熱情可能比內部更大。”"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"color","attrs":{"color":"#494949","name":"user"}}],"text":" "}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"color","attrs":{"color":"#494949","name":"user"}}],"text":"據瞭解，在去年 3 月份的時候，Waymo 就已獲得過一筆 22.5 億美元的融資，這是該公司獲得的第一筆外部投資。彼時 Waymo 的首席執行官 John Krafcik 在博客中表示：“通過與 Alphabet 一起注入資本和商業智慧，我們將深化對員工、技術和運營的投資，這一切都是爲了支持 Waymo Driver 在世界各地的部署。”"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"color","attrs":{"color":"#494949","name":"user"}}],"text":" "}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"color","attrs":{"color":"#494949","name":"user"}}],"text":"資料顯示，Waymo 最初是谷歌 2009 年啓動的一項自動駕駛汽車計劃，並於 2016 年 12 月從谷歌獨立出來，成爲谷歌母公司 Alphabet 旗下的子公司，也因此和谷歌成了兄弟公司。"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"color","attrs":{"color":"#494949","name":"user"}}],"text":" "}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"color","attrs":{"color":"#494949","name":"user"}}],"text":"2017 年 11 月，Waymo 宣佈開始在駕駛座上不配置安全駕駛員的情況下測試自動駕駛汽車。2018 年 7 月，Waymo 宣佈其自動駕駛車隊在公共道路上的路測里程已達 800 萬英里。2019 年，Waymo 獲得美國加州公共事業委員會（CPUC）的批准，允許其自動駕駛出租車進行載客服務，並獲批加入“國家自動駕駛乘客服務試點”的測試計劃。2020 年，Waymo 在鳳凰城推出了無人駕駛汽車的乘車共享服務，同年，Waymo 與戴姆勒公司的卡車運輸部門簽署了一項協議，開始爲後者的卡車配備其自動駕駛軟件。"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"color","attrs":{"color":"#494949","name":"user"}}],"text":" "}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"color","attrs":{"color":"#494949","name":"user"}}],"text":"事實上，自谷歌推出自動駕駛汽車計劃以來，Waymo 就一直被視爲自動駕駛行業的技術領導者，但它並沒有充分利用自己的領先優勢，發展也不如預期。"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"color","attrs":{"color":"#494949","name":"user"}}],"text":" "}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"color","attrs":{"color":"#494949","name":"user"}}],"text":"早在 2018 年，Waymo 就曾宣佈購買最多 8.2 萬輛汽車來壯大自己的出租車隊，以此進行大規模商業擴張。但直到 2021 年，Waymo 的車隊仍然只有幾百輛汽車而已。2019 年秋天，摩根士丹利曾將 Waymo 的估值從 1750 億美元下調了 40％，至 1050 億美元，主要原因是認爲該行業向商業化的步伐比預期的要慢。"}]},{"type":"heading","attrs":{"align":null,"level":2},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"管理層頻繁動盪"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"color","attrs":{"color":"#494949","name":"user"}}],"text":" "}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"color","attrs":{"color":"#494949","name":"user"}}],"text":"除了發展不如預期，Waymo 的管理層也頻繁動盪，近期更有多位高管離開公司。消息顯示，自今年 2 月以來，Waymo 已經接連失去了 6 名關鍵高管，包括其首席執行官、首席財務官和幾名關鍵管理人員。"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"color","attrs":{"color":"#494949","name":"user"}}],"text":" "}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"color","attrs":{"color":"#494949","name":"user"}}],"text":"據彭博社報道，有知情人士稱，即將離任的首席執行官 John Krafcik 已經向一些人發出了自己的離職備忘錄，他的這一決定讓 Waymo 和 Alphabet 內部的許多人都感到驚訝。"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"color","attrs":{"color":"#494949","name":"user"}}],"text":" "}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"color","attrs":{"color":"#494949","name":"user"}}],"text":"據瞭解，John Krafcik 曾在私下裏對一些投資人表示，他在該公司工作的時間已經超過了自己此前的預期。疫情讓公司的計劃進度延誤，他希望帶領公司渡過難關。在離職之後，他將繼續擔任 Waymo 公司的顧問。"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"color","attrs":{"color":"#494949","name":"user"}}],"text":" "}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"color","attrs":{"color":"#494949","name":"user"}}],"text":"資料顯示，John Krafcik 此前曾供職於現代汽車公司和福特汽車公司，並於 2015 年加入 Waymo。在他的帶領下，Waymo 開始與汽車製造商建立合作伙伴關係，並將自動駕駛技術從一個研究項目變成了真正的業務。"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"color","attrs":{"color":"#494949","name":"user"}}],"text":" "}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"color","attrs":{"color":"#494949","name":"user"}}],"text":"今年 5 月，Waymo 首席財務官 Ger Dwyer 和汽車合作與企業發展主管 Adam Frost 陸續離職；4 月，財務主管和投資者關係主管 Sherry House 離職；3 月，曾任 Waymo 未來汽車總監的 David Twohig 和曾任系統安全主管的 Qi Hommes 雙雙離職。"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"color","attrs":{"color":"#494949","name":"user"}}],"text":" "}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"color","attrs":{"color":"#494949","name":"user"}}],"text":"有消息顯示，在 John Krafcik 提出離職之後，Waymo 任命了首席技術官 Dmitri Dolgov 和首席運營官 Tekedra Mawakana 兩位高管爲聯席首席執行官，共同領導 Waymo。同時，Waymo 仍在尋找新的首席財務官。"}]},{"type":"heading","attrs":{"align":null,"level":2},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"持續燒錢撐不起的自動駕駛夢"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null}},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"color","attrs":{"color":"#494949","name":"user"}}],"text":"值得一提的是，此前已有多家公司將自動駕駛部門進行出售，而 Waymo 至今仍在堅守。"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"color","attrs":{"color":"#494949","name":"user"}}],"text":" "}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"color","attrs":{"color":"#494949","name":"user"}}],"text":"今年 4 月，Lyft 把名爲 Level 5 的自動駕駛部門出售給 Woven Planet，後者主要任務就是推進自動駕駛汽車技術。這筆交易價值 5.5 億美元，其中 2 億美元會先行支付，剩餘 3.5 億美元將會在五年內支付完成。"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"color","attrs":{"color":"#494949","name":"user"}}],"text":" "}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"color","attrs":{"color":"#494949","name":"user"}}],"text":"去年底，Uber 公司宣佈將其自動駕駛部門 Uber 先進技術集團（ATG）出售給自動駕駛汽車初創公司 Aurora Innovation，這筆交易以股票形式進行。據知情人士稱，該股權交易對 ATG 的估值爲 40 億美元。"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"color","attrs":{"color":"#494949","name":"user"}}],"text":" "}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"color","attrs":{"color":"#494949","name":"user"}}],"text":"兩家公司出售自動駕駛部門的背後，與業務持續燒錢密不可分。有數據顯示，Uber 自 2015 年開展自動駕駛業務以來，5 年間已燒了 25 億美元，平均每年燒 5 億美元。"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"color","attrs":{"color":"#494949","name":"user"}}],"text":" "}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"color","attrs":{"color":"#494949","name":"user"}}],"text":"高昂的研發費用並沒有爲 Uber 帶來多少盈利。據 Uber 去年 11 月發佈的財報顯示，在截止 2020 年 9 月 30 日的 9 個月裏，ATG 和其他技術部門（其中包括 Uber Elevate）淨虧損 3.03 億美元。在其 S-1 文件中顯示，Uber 稱 ATG 和“其他技術項目”計劃產生了 4.57 億美元的研發費用。這也讓 Uber 不得不盡快想辦法剝離該業務。"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"color","attrs":{"color":"#494949","name":"user"}}],"text":" "}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"color","attrs":{"color":"#494949","name":"user"}}],"text":"Uber 尚且如此，Lyft 的處境也不會好到哪裏。毫無疑問，出售自動駕駛部門會對 Lyft 帶來一些利好，起碼可以收穫了一些資本的認同，在 Lyft 宣佈出售自動駕駛部門當日，股價收盤報 63.06 美元，盤後交易中上漲約 2%。"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"color","attrs":{"color":"#494949","name":"user"}}],"text":" "}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"color","attrs":{"color":"#494949","name":"user"}}],"text":"至於 Waymo 未來將走向何方，仍是個未知數。"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"color","attrs":{"color":"#494949","name":"user"}}],"text":" "}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"color","attrs":{"color":"#494949","name":"user"}}],"text":"參考鏈接："}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"color","attrs":{"color":"#494949","name":"user"}}],"text":" "}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"link","attrs":{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/news\/articles\/2021-05-19\/waymo-eyes-raising-up-to-4-billion-as-leaders-exits-sow-doubts","title":null,"type":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"https:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/news\/articles\/2021-05-19\/waymo-eyes-raising-up-to-4-billion-as-leaders-exits-sow-doubts"}],"marks":[{"type":"color","attrs":{"color":"#494949","name":"user"}}]}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"color","attrs":{"color":"#494949","name":"user"}}],"text":" "}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"link","attrs":{"href":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/2020\/03\/02\/waymo-brings-in-2-25-billion-from-outside-investors-alphabet\/","title":null,"type":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/2020\/03\/02\/waymo-brings-in-2-25-billion-from-outside-investors-alphabet\/"}],"marks":[{"type":"color","attrs":{"color":"#494949","name":"user"}}]}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"color","attrs":{"color":"#494949","name":"user"}}],"text":" "}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"link","attrs":{"href":"https:\/\/www.infoq.cn\/article\/7a59XBxoYhGHs7wHNdWb","title":null,"type":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"https:\/\/www.infoq.cn\/article\/7a59XBxoYhGHs7wHNdWb"}],"marks":[{"type":"color","attrs":{"color":"#494949","name":"user"}}]}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null}},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"https:\/\/www.infoq.cn\/article\/RiXlxjW03zOglCSVH6Ak"}]}]}