Wayve, a British AI company specializing in autonomous driving technology, has recently announced a significant milestone in their growth. They have successfully raised $1.05 billion in a Series C investment round¹. This funding round was led by SoftBank Group, with notable contributions from new investor NVIDIA and existing investor Microsoft¹.
The company, founded in 2017, is at the forefront of integrating advanced AI into vehicles and robots, a field known as Embodied AI. This approach is set to transform how machines interact with and learn from human behavior in real-world environments¹. Wayve's pioneering work includes developing and testing an end-to-end deep learning autonomous driving system on public roads, which has been referred to as a 'GPT for driving'¹.
The substantial investment will support Wayve in fully developing and launching the first Embodied AI products for production vehicles. These products aim to enable Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) to efficiently upgrade cars to higher levels of driving automation, ranging from L2+ assisted driving to L4 automated driving¹.
Wayve's approach to autonomous driving, which is similar to Tesla's but with a broader application to various auto OEMs, has been recognized as a significant step towards AI-assisted automotive applications². The company plans to use the fresh capital to expand its operations globally and further develop its product for both "eyes on" assisted driving and "eyes off" fully automated driving².
This funding is not only a testament to Wayve's innovative technology but also marks it as one of the largest AI fundraises in the UK and globally². It's an exciting development in the field of autonomous mobility and AI technology.
Source
(1) Wayve Raises Over $1 Billion Led by SoftBank to Develop Embodied AI .... https://wayve.ai/press/series-c/.
(2) Wayve raises $1B to take its Tesla-like technology for self-driving to .... https://techcrunch.com/2024/05/06/wayve-raises-1-billion-led-by-softbank-to-take-self-driving-to-cars-and-robots/.
(3) Wayve funding: SoftBank leads $1 billion funding for UK self-driving .... https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/tech/funding/softbank-leads-1-billion-funding-for-uk-self-driving-startup-wayve/articleshow/109902545.cms.
(4) UK AI startup Wayve wins $1bn funding for self-driving car software .... https://www.theguardian.com/business/article/2024/may/07/uk-ai-startup-wayve-funding-self-driving-softbank?ref=biztoc.com.
(5) UK firm Wayve secures over £800m in funding to build AI for self .... https://www.shropshirestar.com/news/uk-news/2024/05/07/uk-firm-wayve-secures-over-800m-in-funding-to-build-ai-for-self-driving-cars/.
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