Waymo debuts custom 5nm chip for its 13-camera Ojai robotaxi
TL;DR
- The ASIC handles front-end sensor preprocessing only; autonomous driving inference runs on a separate subsystem, narrowing the scope of the 1,000+ TOPS figure beyond what headlines suggest.
- Waymo named seven hardware partners by name: TSMC, Nvidia, AMD, Micron, Samsung, Sandisk, and Socionext, the first full supplier transparency from a major AV operator.
- Bloomberg frames the chip as deliberate supply chain diversification away from per-vehicle Nvidia and AMD compute dependency, placing the disclosure inside a cost and resilience rationale.
Waymo has unveiled the custom silicon at the center of its next-generation Ojai robotaxi: a 5nm ASIC that intercepts raw camera and sensor data before it reaches the main autonomy stack. In TechCrunch Mobility, Kirsten Korosec reports the chip delivers "more than 1,000 TOPS (trillions of operations per second)," a figure that puts it in the same performance neighborhood as Nvidia's DRIVE AGX Thor, the automotive processor Waymo's rivals have been building around.
The role Waymo describes for the part is unglamorous but load-bearing. The Ojai carries 13 high-fidelity cameras, and the ASIC is "designed to handle the massive influx of raw data before it reaches the core 'brain' of the self-driving system," according to the company. Waymo also argues the chip "is a critical piece of a system that can react fast and safely in complex, high-density environments," singling out cities.
The named supplier list is unusually broad for a chip disclosure: AMD, Micron, Nvidia, Samsung, Sandisk, Socionext, and TSMC. Nvidia appearing there while Waymo simultaneously benchmarks the ASIC against Nvidia's Thor is a piece of coopetition few chip reveals bother to spell out.
The move fits a familiar Alphabet playbook: build the accelerator yourself, TPU-style, when the economics of buying merchant silicon stop working. Korosec frames it as part of Waymo's vertical integration strategy, aimed at making the Ojai cheaper to build, operate and maintain across its current markets in Los Angeles, Phoenix, and San Francisco. It arrives days after Nevada cleared 8,000 robotaxi permits in Clark County for Waymo, Tesla and Uber, one more market where cheaper hardware could compound.
What others are reporting
-
Waymo Read →
First-party disclosure authored by Waymo's VP Engineering and Compute Lead; frames the chip as co-designed with sensors and software rather than a standalone hardware project.
We are excited to introduce our purpose-built 5nm ASIC...engineered exclusively to process, fuse, and run advanced neural networks.
-
Bloomberg Read →
Bloomberg positions this as explicit supply chain diversification away from Nvidia and AMD dependency, grounding the disclosure in cost and resilience rather than performance benchmarks.
Using its own chip, alongside others and with sensors the company designed itself, will improve its robotaxis' reflexes and navigational skills.
-
The Next Web Read →
Treats the supplier list disclosure as the strategically significant fact; clarifies the ASIC handles front-end only; contextualizes the announcement against six Waymo safety recalls in the past year.
Our compute is designed like two independent engines...if one develops a fault the other takes over.
-
TechRepublic Read →
Frames the core engineering challenge as applying data-center performance specs to a safety-critical automotive context, with redundancy and thermal management as the binding constraints.
We are designing a state-of-the-art system that would be considered impressive for a data center...
Originally reported by techcrunch.com
Read the original article →Original headline: Waymo Reveals Custom 5nm Ojai ASIC With 1,000+ TOPS to Preprocess Its 13 Robotaxi Cameras