Ed Ludlow

Waymo's reputation is growing globally, and we're going to talk about the literal expansion of your operations.

But with this funding round, it's a who's who of investors now on the cap table.

It's a big raise at a premium valuation.

How much of that is sort of setting the pieces in motion to life eventually as a public company?

Is that something that you and Dimitri and the rest of the leadership plan for or is there merit staying as you are now?

Let's talk about the growth.

A lot of people just want to understand in some of those cities where people are frustrated because the service doesn't exist.

What does it take to launch in a city to go from mapping that city through to a full paid commercial service?

We do not yet have, although there has been progress toward just this week, a federal level framework set of rules.

What do you think the direction of travel is with that?

And, you know, clearly, if you had to deal with one set of rules and not a city by city, let alone state by state basis or case, you'd be making a bit more progress, I suppose.

New York City.

New York City, not necessarily New York State.

A lot of people want to know what's the roadblock there, pardon the expression, and what's the timeline?

You work closely with the authorities, but that is a big potential market.

Do they have the rules for you to follow?

And until that changes...

Of those 20 cities that are coming this year, New York City is not one of them factored in.

That's Waymo co-CEO Takedra Mauakana.

I'm Ed Ludlow, and you're listening to a special bonus episode of Bloomberg Tech.