Wayve, a British AI company specializing in autonomous driving, has secured a substantial $1.05 billion in Series C funding to accelerate its development of embodied AI technologies for autonomous vehicles. The investment round was led by SoftBank Group, with significant contributions from NVIDIA and existing investor Microsoft.
Founded in 2017, Wayve is at the forefront of integrating advanced AI into vehicles, an approach known as embodied AI, which enables vehicles to interact with and adapt to their environments in real-time. This technology aims to enhance the safety and efficiency of autonomous vehicles, allowing them to handle real-world variables and unexpected situations with human-like intuition.
The funding will support the full development and commercial launch of Wayve’s first embodied AI products, which are designed to upgrade cars to higher levels of autonomy, ranging from L2+ assisted driving to L4 fully automated driving. Wayve’s approach, which it describes as a ‘GPT for driving’, involves creating foundation models for autonomy that can adapt to various driving environments.
Alex Kendall, Co-founder and CEO of Wayve, expressed his enthusiasm for the new funding: “This significant funding milestone underlines our commitment to developing autonomous technology that integrates seamlessly into daily life, enhancing user experiences and safety. Our partnership with SoftBank, NVIDIA, and Microsoft will be pivotal in advancing our mission to redefine mobility with AI at its core.”
Kentaro Matsui, Managing Partner at SoftBank Investment Advisers, emphasized the transformative potential of the technology: “AI is revolutionizing mobility by enabling vehicles to interpret their surroundings like humans, thereby enhancing decision-making and safety standards. We are excited to support Wayve as it leads the charge in this new era of mobility.”
Rishi Dhall, Vice President of Automotive Business at NVIDIA, highlighted the technical collaboration: “By building on NVIDIA DRIVE Orin and DRIVE Thor platforms, Wayve’s AV2.0 system will leverage our advanced architecture to bring human-like driving skills to autonomous vehicles.”
Dominik Wee, Corporate Vice President of Manufacturing and Mobility at Microsoft, also commented on the collaboration: “Working with Wayve, we aim to scale the deployment of their AI-driven autonomous driving products significantly, utilizing our extensive cloud computing capabilities and AI expertise.”
This investment positions Wayve to expand its operations and continue its research into advanced AI applications, ultimately aiming to deliver safer and more reliable autonomous driving technologies to the global market.
