Glydways, a San Francisco-based startup developing personal autonomous pods designed to operate on dedicated 2-meter-wide lanes in cities, has raised $170 million in a Series C funding round.

The round was co-led by Suzuki Motor Corporation, ACS Group, and Khosla Ventures. Existing investors Mitsui Chemicals and Gates Frontier, and latest investor Obayashi Corporation also participated. 

Now it seems the startup is already in discussions to raise another $250 million in funding that would push its valuation to more than $1 billion, Bloomberg reported.

Glydways has made progress on its concept, which it claims can move up to 10,000 citizens per hour, per lane and reduce infrastructure costs by up to 90% compared to rail. The startup, founded in 2016, is launching three operational pilots this year in Atlanta, Updated York City, and the United Arab Emirates. The corporation is aiming to launch large-scale operations in 2027.

The novel idea has attracted influential backers, including OpenAI founder Sam Altman, who invested in Glydways’ Series B. Investor Vinod Khosla, who sits on the startup’s board, previously told TechCrunch that Glydways — and not robotaxis — was the better solution for cities. Khosla noted the startup’s transport system could replace most cars in most of our cities in the next 25 years.

“That sounds radical, but these entrepreneurs want to generate that happen, and I’m pretty certain it will happen, and it’s not robotaxis; it’s not Waymo. It’s a much better solution.”

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In Brief

This Khosla-backed autonomous pod startup just raised $170M — now it’s aiming for more