Despite the slow commercialization process, Alphabet's autopilot division has received another $2.5 billion in financing.

Waymo, a self-driving company owned by Google's parent company Alphabet, announced on Wednesday that it has received a second round of external financing of $2.5 billion, an investment that will be used to boost the expansion of its self-driving technology and team.

Waymo was launched in 2009 by Google's parent company Alphabet as a self-driving car project. In 2016, the Google project was officially renamed Waymo, inspired by "A new way forward in mobility" (the new mobile way of the future). Since then, Waymo has tested a variety of self-driving cars in several states.

However, the ideal is very plump, the reality is very bony. Waymo and other self-driving companies have found that the application of autopilot technology is indeed more difficult than expected, and Waymo still relied heavily on human drivers last summer.

In fact, Waymo is one of Alphabet's lossmaking "other bets" (Other Bets) projects, and the latest round of external financing shows that Alphabet is increasingly relying on other investors to help support the division's operations.

The second round of financing followed the departure of (John Krafcik), chief executive of Waymo in April, after criticism that Waymo had made less than expected progress in commercializing technology.

However, Waymo said the new round of financing showed investors' patience in commercialising self-driving technology and highlighted Waymo's leading position in the industry.

Waymo made its first external financing in March last year, with a total investment of $2.25 billion. A few months later, as more investors joined, the round raised a total of $3.2 billion.

Alphabet had been supporting the business out of its own pocket until it received external financing, but the financing showed that Waymo was seeking more capital.

The main investors in the second round of financing include Alphabet, Anderson Horowitz (Andreessen Horowitz), Fidelity, Silver Lake (Silver Lake), T.Rowe Price, Temasek and Tiger Global.

Waymo co-CEO Tekdra Mavacana (Tekedra Mawakana) said the new money will be used to continue to improve the self-driving car platform Waymo Driver, and continue to strengthen the company's team.

Currently, Waymo has deployed a self-driving ride-hailing service in Phoenix. In addition, its express department Waymo Via is also working with partners such as UPS to transport goods. But it will take years for Waymo autopilot to be commercially available.

Waymo is valued at just over $30 billion, according to investor website PitchBook, although that figure does not include the latest round of financing.