The Khosla-powered startup just raised $170M. Now, it needs more.

Glydways, a San Francisco-based startup developing autonomous pods designed to operate on two-meter-wide city streets, is earned $170 million in Series C funding round.

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

Now, it appears that the startup is already in talks to raise another $250 million that would push its value over $1 billion, Bloomberg said.

Glydways has advanced its concept, which it says can move up to 10,000 people per hour, on the road and reduce construction costs by 90% compared to rail. The startup, which was founded in 2016, is launching three pilots this year in Atlanta, New York City, and the United Arab Emirates. The company wants to launch major projects in 2027.

The new concept has attracted 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 – not robotaxis – was a better way to solve cities. Khosla noted that public transport could replace most of the traffic in many of our cities over the next 25 years.

“It sounds radical, but these entrepreneurs want this to happen, and I’m sure it will happen, and it’s not robotaxis; it’s not Waymo. It’s a great solution.”