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Exclusive: Wayve co-founder Alex Kendall on the autonomous future for cars and robots | TechCrunch

May 07, 2024 - techcrunch.com
UK-based autonomous vehicle startup Wayve has raised $1.05 billion in a Series C funding round led by SoftBank, NVIDIA, and Microsoft, making it the UK's largest AI fundraise to date. The company, which started as a software platform in a Renault Twizy, has evolved into an AI model company planning to sell its autonomous driving model to auto OEMs and makers of new autonomous robots. Wayve's technology does not require Lidar cameras or radars, and the company is currently working with several of the top 10 automakers globally.

In an interview, co-founder and CEO Alex Kendall discussed the company's growth, its plans for licensing its AI to automotive manufacturers, and its vision for creating autonomy at scale. The company has partnered with Tesco and Ocado to collect data for trialing autonomy and plans to use the diverse data from different cars and markets to produce a more intelligent and capable embodied AI. Kendall also highlighted the company's ambition to hold the largest amount of training data around driving in the world and to extend its AI beyond driving to other forms of robotics.

Key takeaways:

  • UK-based autonomous vehicle startup Wayve has raised a $1.05 billion Series C funding round led by SoftBank, NVIDIA and Microsoft, making it the UK’s largest AI fundraise to date.
  • Wayve plans to sell its autonomous driving model to a variety of auto OEMs and makers of new autonomous robots.
  • The company has partnered with Tesco and Ocado to collect data to trial autonomy and is working with a number of the top 10 automakers in the world.
  • Wayve's ambition is to be the holder of the largest amount of training data around driving in the world, and to expand its AI beyond driving to other forms of robotics.
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