The company will utilise the new capital to expedite its strategy of transforming autonomous mobility through embodied AI apart from fully developing and introducing the first embodied AI products for production vehicles
Wayve raises $1.05bn in a Series C funding round led by SoftBank Group. (Credit: Wayve)
Wayve, a UK-based autonomous driving company, has raised $1.05bn in a Series C funding round led by Japanese multinational investment holding company SoftBank Group.
The funding round also saw the participation of Nvidia and the autonomous driving company’s existing investor Microsoft.
SoftBank Investment Advisers managing partner and SoftBank Group new business office head Kentaro Matsui said: “AI is revolutionising mobility. Vehicles can now interpret their surroundings like humans, enabling enhanced decision-making that promises higher safety standards.
“The potential of this type of technology is transformative; it could eliminate 99% of traffic accidents. SoftBank Group is delighted to be at the forefront of this effort with Wayve, as advanced intelligence redefines mobility and connectivity, contributing to a more convenient and safer society.”
Wayve will utilise the new capital to expedite its strategy of transforming autonomous mobility through embodied artificial intelligence (AI). The company also plans to fully develop and introduce the first embodied AI products for production vehicles.
Besides, Wayve intends to scale its foundation models, advance embodied AI research, and set up an industry-leading AV2.0 platform with better simulation, measurement, and active learning tools for automotive applications.
Furthermore, the UK-based company will use the funds to expand operations and partnerships in new markets.
By integrating advanced AI into vehicles and robots to modernise machine interaction, embodied AI understands and learns from human behaviour in real-world environments to enable greater usability and safety in autonomous driving systems.
It will also equip autonomous driving systems with the intelligence required to navigate situations that do not follow strict patterns or rules, including unexpected actions by drivers, pedestrians, or environmental elements.
Wayve co-founder and CEO Alex Kendall said: “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.
“This significant funding milestone highlights our team’s unwavering conviction that Embodied AI will address the long-standing challenges the industry has faced in scaling this technology to everyone, everywhere.”
Established in 2017, Wayve offers advanced AI software and foundation models for autonomy enable vehicles to comprehend and navigate any environment.
It is also engaged in developing mapless and hardware-agnostic embodied AI products for automakers and fleet owners to expedite the path from assisted to automated driving.
In 2022, Wayve secured $200m in a Series B round led by American venture capital organisation Eclipse Ventures.