Waymo bought Apple’s self-driving car proving ground for $220M
Waymo has acquired a massive 5,500-acre proving ground in Arizona owned by Route 14 Investment Partners LLC, a Delaware shell company associated with Apple, according to documents filed with Maricopa County.
Waymo acquired the property located near other proving grounds in Wittman, Arizona for $220 million, according to the filing. The sale was recorded June 5. Waymo confirmed the sale to TechCrunch.
The purchase rounds out Waymo’s already robust network of closed test courses. The Alphabet-owned company still uses the Castle Proving Ground in California as well as the Transportation Research Center in Ohio.
Both of these are dwarfed by the Arizona location. The location includes 115-acre city course, a 35-acre vehicle dynamics area, a 4-mile oval track, and a freeway course purpose-built for autonomous vehicle testing.
Apple purchased the property in 2021 for $125 million after renting access to it for years. The facility had previously been...
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