British autonomous driving startup Wayve has attracted more than $1 billion in funding from some of the largest global names in technology, including Nvidia, Microsoft and SoftBank.
The investment is earmarked to support Wayve's efforts to launch ‘embodied AI’ products for production vehicles and to expand its operations globally.
Wayve is seeking to bring to market what it calls “GPT for driving… that can empower any vehicle to see, think, and drive through any environment”.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak praised the UK as “the home for pioneers like Wayve who are breaking ground as they develop the next generation of AI models for self-driving cars”.
Alex Kendall, Co-founder and chief executive of Wayve, stated: "At Wayve, our vision is to develop autonomous technology that not only becomes a reality in millions of vehicles but also earns people’s trust by seamlessly integrating into their everyday lives to unlock extraordinary value.”.
Wayve was established in 2017. Ocado invested £10 million in the group in 2021 under a partnership deal that saw Wayve technology roadtested on Ocado’s last-mile delivery routes.