Waymo Unveils High-Performance AI Chip to Power Autonomous Vehicles

Waymo, Google's (GOOGL) self-driving car subsidiary, has developed a custom AI chip that can process over 1,000 trillion operations per second. This chip is designed to reduce Waymo's reliance on Nvidia (NVDA) and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) for its autonomous vehicles.

The new chip, manufactured with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing's (TSM) 5-nanometer process, is already in production for Waymo's new robotaxis. It can process data from Waymo's custom sensors and run AI models that help the vehicle understand its surroundings.

This move gives Waymo more control over the computers inside its vehicles and could improve costs as well. By designing a chip specifically for its needs, Waymo may be able to remove unnecessary hardware and make future robotaxis cheaper to build.