INDEX / DIRECTORY / WAYMO

Waymo

Transport & Mobility 42 CITED SOURCES UPDATED 2026-09-22 METHOD V6.5
BDS-1000 Score 269 /1000 D Tier D - Moderate
Military ↗ 0.00 Digital ↗ 2.75 Economic ↗ 3.05 Political ↗ 0.00
OWNERSHIP TREE 3 brands and group businesses View all

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Key Findings

  • Economic: Waymo has documented, limited Israel-linked commercial connections: Israeli patent prosecution through a local agent and a reported - but not independently confirmed - customer relationship with Israeli fleet-management startup Autofleet.1, 2
  • Digital: Waymo processes extensive rider and vehicle data and uses AI/ML, cameras, and microphones, but public materials state it does not use facial recognition to identify people; no public evidence identified of Waymo deployment to Israeli state bodies.3, 4
  • Political: Waymo is Alphabet-controlled; Alphabet sibling Google’s Project Nimbus work for Israeli government entities, including a procurement framework involving the Ministry of Defense and IDF, is group-level evidence and does not establish Waymo participation.5, 6
  • Not found: No public evidence identified of Waymo military contracts, Israeli or occupied-territory operations, settlement activity, Israeli security-force product deployment, or Waymo-specific Project Nimbus involvement.7, 8, 6

Target Profile

FieldDetail
Company NameWaymo LLC
JurisdictionUnited States, Delaware limited liability company.9
Headquarters1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, California, United States.10
SectorAutonomous-driving technology and public autonomous ride-hailing.7
OwnershipAlphabet-controlled consolidated variable-interest entity; Alphabet remained Waymo’s majority investor following its February 2026 investment round. External investments create or are expected to create non-controlling interests, but individual ownership percentages are not publicly disclosed in the reviewed materials.9, 11
Key Executives / GovernanceTekedra Mawakana and Dmitri Dolgov, co-CEOs. Other publicly identified executives include Becky Bucich, Steve Fieler, Amar Mehta, Mauricio Peña, Satish Jeyachandran, Ryan McNamara, Saswat Panigrahi, and Srikanth Thirumalai.7
Israeli-Nexus SummaryLimited, indirect and qualified: Israeli patent prosecution and an unverified reported Autofleet customer relationship; no public evidence identified of Waymo operations, contracts, or deployment in Israel or the occupied Palestinian territory.8, 1, 2

Key Facts:

Executive Summary

Waymo is an Alphabet-controlled autonomous-driving business operating Waymo Driver technology and public robotaxi services. Its public materials describe civilian passenger transportation, including fully electric Jaguar I-PACE vehicles and the Zeekr Ojai platform, rather than military, tactical, construction, or weapons systems.7 The reviewed evidence identifies Waymo LLC as a Delaware entity with a Mountain View, California service address, and does not establish an Israeli headquarters, Israeli tax residency, Israeli control, or an Israeli operating presence.9, 10, 8

The strongest documented Israel-linked evidence is economic and technological rather than operational or military. Israeli Patent Office journals published Waymo LLC applications in 2021 relating to lidar hardware and range-measurement accuracy; the records identify a U.S. applicant and Israeli patent agent Reinhold Cohn and Partners. These filings establish local patent prosecution, not an Israeli Waymo R&D centre, government contract, acquisition, deployment, or co-development relationship.1, 2 Separately, a 2024 Globes report identified Waymo as a customer of Israeli startup Autofleet. That claimed customer relationship was not independently confirmed by Waymo or Autofleet in the reviewed materials and must therefore remain unresolved.13

Waymo’s data practices and Alphabet affiliation are relevant to the digital and political evidence record. Waymo says its vehicles use cameras, microphones, and AI/ML, and its privacy policy describes collection and processing of precise geolocation, trip, account, payment, device, network, in-vehicle video, and support-call audio data.3, 4 At the same time, Waymo states that it does not use facial recognition or other biometric-identification technologies to identify individuals.3 Alphabet sibling Google Cloud’s documented Project Nimbus role is material group-level context: Google was selected to provide cloud services to Israeli government entities, while Israeli procurement material describes participation by the Ministry of Defense and IDF.5, 6 However, those records do not identify Waymo as a supplier, participant, customer environment, data processor, or provider of autonomous-driving technology to the programme.5, 6

No public evidence identified of a Waymo contract, tender, memorandum, product deployment, technology transfer, security partnership, or logistical-support relationship with the Israeli Ministry of Defense, IDF, Israeli intelligence bodies, police, prison service, Border Police, or settlement-related end-users.7, 8 No public evidence identified of Waymo operations, services, offices, R&D centres, subsidiaries, deployments, registrations, or settlement activity in Israel, the West Bank, East Jerusalem, the Golan Heights, or Gaza.8, 14 The document-scoped reviews also found no Waymo occurrence in the supplied UN Special Rapporteur report or reviewed OHCHR settlement-business database materials; these negative results are limited to those documents and do not prove wider absence.15, 14

Under the fixed, human-vetted V6.5 assessment, Waymo receives a BRS of 269, placing it in Tier D (Moderate Complicity). The score reflects the evidence record’s documented indirect and group-context nexus, not a finding of direct Waymo military provision or settlement operations. The zero military and political domain outcomes must be read alongside the higher digital and economic domain scores, whose underlying evidence remains bounded by the attribution and verification limits described below.

Timeline of Relevant Events

DateEvent
2009Google’s self-driving-car project, from which Waymo originated, began.7
2016Waymo became an autonomous-driving company under Alphabet.7
May 2021Google Cloud announced its selection for Israel’s Project Nimbus public-cloud tender; this is Alphabet-group Google evidence, not evidence of Waymo participation.5
June 2021Israeli Patent Office journal published a Waymo LLC lidar-related application identifying Reinhold Cohn and Partners as Israeli patent agent.1
October 2021Israeli Patent Office journal published a further Waymo LLC lidar-related application.2
October 2022Israel’s Ministry of Finance stated that Google activated a local cloud zone under Project Nimbus; this does not establish Waymo involvement.16
October 2024Waymo announced a US$5.6 billion Alphabet-led funding round, with continuing outside investors.17
April 2024TIME reported on an unsigned draft Google Cloud consulting contract concerning an Israeli Ministry of Defense cloud “landing zone”; the report did not identify Waymo as a party.18
September 2025Waymo and Via announced a partnership intended to enable agencies using Via software to introduce Waymo autonomous ride-hailing into transit networks, beginning in Chandler, Arizona.19
February 2026Waymo announced a US$16 billion investment round and stated that Alphabet remained its majority investor.11

Corporate Overview

Waymo operates as Waymo LLC, an Alphabet-controlled autonomous-driving business. Alphabet describes Waymo as a consolidated variable-interest entity within its Other Bets reporting, while Waymo describes itself as an independent self-driving-technology company established under Alphabet.9, 7 Public disclosures reviewed do not provide a complete Waymo LLC capitalization table, direct legal-parent chain, current direct manager or member, Waymo-specific board roster, or external-investor ownership percentages.9, 11

Waymo’s civilian business is autonomous passenger transportation. It operates public autonomous ride-hailing services in listed U.S. markets and is authorized by California regulators for autonomous-vehicle testing and deployment.8, 12 Its public materials describe the Waymo Driver, robotaxi operations, and passenger vehicles - not heavy construction equipment, military vehicles, targeting systems, or security-force variants.7

No separately named Waymo Israeli-domiciled subsidiary, Israeli office, franchisee, licensee, R&D centre, tax registration, acquired operating company, or occupied-territory location was identified in the reviewed corporate and regulatory record. This is a record-scoped finding and does not prove absolute absence.9, 8 Alphabet sibling Google publicly lists offices in Haifa and Tel Aviv, but those Google offices do not establish a Waymo presence there.20

The Via partnership is relevant as a commercial relationship involving a company with two wholly owned Israeli subsidiaries. Via’s filing identifies Via Transportation Technologies Ltd. and Via Mobility Israel, Ltd.; it does not identify either subsidiary as performing work for Waymo, and the reviewed materials do not establish that their partnership is deployed in Israel.19, 21 The reported Autofleet customer relationship is likewise limited and unresolved: it is not evidence that Waymo acquired Autofleet, controlled an Israeli subsidiary, or operated in Israel.13

Domain Summaries

Military: Military

Mechanism of Involvement

No public evidence identified of Waymo contracting with, supplying, or providing services to the Israeli Ministry of Defense, IDF, Israel Prison Service, Border Police, Israeli intelligence agencies, or other Israeli security bodies.7, 8 The reviewed public record does not identify Waymo as a defence supplier, military technology provider, defence-exhibition participant, or participant in an Israeli defence-export relationship.7, 8

No public evidence identified that Waymo’s autonomous-driving technology has tactical, ruggedised, military-specification, weapons-integrated, targeting, fire-control, munitions, missile-defence, or strategic-platform applications for Israeli end-users.7, 8 Nor was public evidence identified of Israeli end-user certificates, export-licence applications or determinations, modified products, defence-prime integration, or co-development with Elbit Systems, Israel Aerospace Industries, Rafael, or IMI/Elbit Land.7, 8

No public evidence identified of Waymo vehicles, equipment, construction services, engineering, maintenance, logistical sustainment, or transport support connected to Israeli military bases, checkpoints, barriers, detention sites, settlements, demolition, or construction in occupied territory.7, 8

Counter-Arguments and Evidence Limits

Waymo’s strongest defence is its public civilian character. Its materials describe autonomous passenger transportation and public ride-hailing, rather than military products, security contracting, construction equipment, or weapons-related systems.7 The available record contains no identified Israeli defence contract or security end-user, and no evidence supporting a claim that Waymo provides targeting or weapons effects.

A 2019 Waymo Veterans Day post referenced employees with U.S. Army Reserve and U.S. Navy service and an employee veterans group. This pre-2020 civilian-employment material does not establish a relationship with Israeli forces or Israeli defence procurement.22 Negative findings in this domain are bounded by the reviewed source set and do not prove the absence of undisclosed activity.

Named Entities and Evidence Map

Digital: Digital

Mechanism of Involvement

Waymo states that its vehicles use cameras, microphones, and AI/ML. Its external camera system detects road-relevant features, while interior cameras may be used for cleanliness, lost-property support, emergencies, rider-rule compliance, product improvement, safety, and security.3 Its privacy policy identifies collection and processing of precise geolocation, trip route, pickup and drop-off data, account and payment data, device and network information, destination inferences, in-vehicle video, and support-call audio.4

Waymo’s policy permits processing by service providers acting on its instructions and disclosures in response to legal process or enforceable government requests.4 Nevertheless, its published materials do not identify data-centre locations, data-residency jurisdictions, a Google Cloud region used by Waymo, Israeli processing or storage infrastructure, or Israeli jurisdictional access to Waymo rider or sensor data.4

Alphabet’s announced acquisition of Israeli-founded Wiz, pending regulatory approval and expected closing in 2026, is a group-level transaction. The relevant Alphabet filing does not identify Waymo as a Wiz customer, user, or deployment environment.9 Similarly, Google Cloud’s Project Nimbus arrangement with Israeli government entities is evidence about Alphabet sibling Google Cloud, not evidence that Waymo participated in, processed data for, or supplied technology to the programme.5, 6

Counter-Arguments and Evidence Limits

Waymo expressly states that it does not use facial recognition or other biometric-identification technologies to identify individuals.3 No public evidence identified that Waymo uses Israeli-origin facial recognition, biometric identification, gait analysis, predictive policing, retail analytics, social-media monitoring, workforce surveillance, offensive cyber capabilities, exploit tools, or digital weapons.3, 4

No public evidence identified that Waymo AI models, computer vision, autonomous decision-support tools, training datasets, vehicle-sensor data, or autonomous-tracking systems have been supplied to Israeli military, intelligence, security, law-enforcement, or government bodies.3, 8 TIME reported that a reviewed Google Cloud draft did not specify military applications and that it found no evidence Google Cloud was used for targeting; the report did not identify Waymo as a contracting party.18 These are meaningful limits on attributing Alphabet or Google Cloud activity to Waymo.

Named Entities and Evidence Map

Economic: Economic

Mechanism of Involvement

The documented economic nexus is limited. Israeli Patent Office journals recorded Waymo LLC patent applications concerning lidar hardware and lidar-range-measurement accuracy, listing Waymo as a U.S. applicant and Reinhold Cohn and Partners as Israeli patent agent.1, 2 These records are evidence of patent prosecution in Israel.

A 2024 Globes article reported that Waymo was a customer of Israeli fleet-management startup Autofleet and reported Element Fleet Management’s agreement to acquire Autofleet for US$110 million.13 This potentially describes a commercial customer relationship with an Israeli-origin company, but it was not independently confirmed by Waymo or Autofleet in the reviewed materials. It therefore cannot support stronger claims about Waymo ownership, acquisition, local operations, or the scale and continuation of the relationship.13

Waymo’s September 2025 Via partnership is a further indirect connection. Via disclosed wholly owned Israeli subsidiaries, but the filing does not identify either subsidiary as performing work for Waymo or establish an Israeli deployment of the partnership.19, 21

Counter-Arguments and Evidence Limits

No public evidence identified of Waymo acquiring or controlling an Israeli operating subsidiary, holding Israeli sovereign bonds or Israel Bonds, owning Israeli real estate, holding an Israeli tax registration, or making Israeli tax payments.9, 8 No public evidence identified of Waymo-specific Israeli employment, market revenue, local vendors, research activity, goods sourcing, Israel-focused importing, settlement-origin goods, settlement-area operations, or profit repatriation from Israel or the occupied Palestinian territory.8

Waymo’s public FAQ lists U.S. service locations and does not identify Israel or occupied territory as a service market. The app-download country list does not include Israel; this supports only the narrow conclusion that Israel is not publicly listed on that page.8 The corporate record therefore does not support characterizing Waymo as an Israeli operator or settlement-linked commercial service provider.

Named Entities and Evidence Map

Political: Political

Mechanism of Involvement

Waymo is an Alphabet-controlled company, and Alphabet’s founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin collectively held approximately 52.7% of Alphabet voting power as of 31 December 2025.9 Alphabet sibling Google has a documented Project Nimbus relationship with Israeli government entities. Israeli procurement material identifies AWS and Google as public-cloud suppliers and describes involvement by the Ministry of Defense and IDF.6

This is relevant corporate-group context, but it is not evidence of Waymo political participation, state partnership, or procurement. The Project Nimbus procurement source does not name Waymo as supplier or marketplace provider, and no supportable evidence identified Waymo’s maps, fleet, software, autonomous-driving products, or personnel as part of Nimbus.6, 18

Counter-Arguments and Evidence Limits

No public evidence identified of Waymo-specific operations, subsidiaries, registrations, tenders, deployments, mapping, equipment provision, or service delivery in Israel, the West Bank, East Jerusalem, the Golan Heights, or Gaza.8, 14 No public evidence identified of a Waymo Israeli state partnership, state equity interest, military relationship, government procurement relationship, lobbying arrangement, settlement-related role, or territorial operating role for Waymo executives.9, 7, 8

The Google Project Nimbus employee-relations dispute should not be attributed to Waymo. The NLRB docket identifies Google - not Waymo - as respondent in the cited case, while reporting on the dispute concerned Google workers.24, 25 The September 2025 OHCHR settlement-business database update did not identify Waymo in the document-scoped review; this remains a limited document-level result, not proof of database-wide absence.14

Named Entities and Evidence Map

BDS-1000 Score

Method: V6.5.

DomainIMPV-Domain Score
Military0.000.000.000.00
Digital5.507.003.502.75
Economic6.107.003.503.05
Political2.000.000.000.00

Economic is the maximum domain score at 3.05, reflecting the vetted record of Israel-linked patent prosecution, an unresolved reported Autofleet relationship, and the limited Via connection. Digital captures Waymo’s substantial data and AI activity alongside the material but non-attributable Alphabet/Google Cloud context; the record does not establish Waymo participation in Project Nimbus.

The V6.5 method is scale-free and evidence-only. Scores are fixed after human vetting and should not be read as proof of undisclosed conduct, direct Israeli military provision, or settlement activity.

Methodology Note

Footnotes

  1. https://www.gov.il/BlobFolder/dynamiccollectorresultitem/patent-journal-jun-2021/he/patents-journal_jun-2021-16A.pdf ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6

  2. https://www.gov.il/BlobFolder/dynamiccollectorresultitem/patent-journal-oct-2021/he/patents-journal_oct-2021-16A.pdf ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6

  3. https://support.google.com/waymo/answer/9190819?hl=en ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8

  4. https://waymo.com/privacy/ ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7

  5. https://cloud.google.com/blog/topics/inside-google-cloud/google-cloud-selected-to-provide-cloud-services-to-the-state-of-israel ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7

  6. https://www.mr.gov.il/ilgstorefront/he/news/details/111222 ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8 ↩9 ↩10

  7. https://waymo.com/about/ ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8 ↩9 ↩10 ↩11 ↩12 ↩13 ↩14 ↩15 ↩16 ↩17 ↩18 ↩19

  8. https://waymo.com/faq/ ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8 ↩9 ↩10 ↩11 ↩12 ↩13 ↩14 ↩15 ↩16 ↩17 ↩18 ↩19 ↩20 ↩21 ↩22

  9. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1652044/000165204426000018/goog-20251231.htm ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8 ↩9 ↩10 ↩11 ↩12 ↩13

  10. https://waymo.com/terms/ ↩ ↩2

  11. https://waymo.com/blog/2026/02/waymo-raises-usd16-billion-investment-round/ ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5

  12. https://www.dmv.ca.gov/portal/vehicle-industry-services/autonomous-vehicles/autonomous-vehicle-testing-permit-holders/ ↩ ↩2

  13. https://en.globes.co.il/en/article-Canadian-co-Element-Fleet-Management-buys-Israels-Autofleet-1001486733 ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6

  14. https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2025/09/un-human-rights-office-updates-database-businesses-involved-israeli ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  15. https://docs.un.org/en/A/HRC/59/23 ↩

  16. https://www.gov.il/en/pages/_bpress_20102022 ↩

  17. https://waymo.com/blog/2024/10/investing-to-bring-the-waymo-driver-to-more-riders/ ↩

  18. https://time.com/6966102/google-contract-israel-defense-ministry-gaza-war/ ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  19. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1603015/000160301526000008/via-20251231.htm ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  20. https://about.google/company-info/locations/ ↩

  21. https://waymo.com/blog/2025/09/waymo-and-via-partner-to-integrate-autonomous-rides-into-public-transit-networks/ ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  22. https://waymo.com/blog/2021/12/accelerating-mission-velocity/ ↩

  23. https://innovationisrael.org.il/en/press_release/introducing-an-autonomous-vehicles-regulation-review-for-the-commercial-use-of-avs/ ↩

  24. https://www.nlrb.gov/case/32-CA-348577 ↩ ↩2

  25. https://apnews.com/article/google-fire-workers-israel-government-contract-f33ea85a0b9257439c02bd2355cd76ad ↩