Robotaxi company Wayve raises 1.2 billion US dollars
Wayve has received over 1 billion US dollars in a financing round. The company intends to use this to finance the launch of its robotaxis in London.
Electric car Mustang equipped by Wayve, driving autonomously
(Image: Wayve)
Money for autonomous driving: The British company Wayve has successfully completed another financing round. According to its statements, the company is now worth over eight billion US dollars. Investors include technology companies as well as three automotive groups.
Wayve develops software for autonomous driving cars based on Artificial Intelligence (AI). The company plans to launch its first regular robotaxi service later this year.
Wayve has just completed its fourth financing round. According to its statements, the company raised 1.2 billion US dollars. The company's valuation is said to be 8.6 billion US dollars.
Investors include institutional investors such as a Canadian pension fund, as well as companies from various technology sectors. These include, for example, the software group Microsoft, the chip manufacturer Nvidia, and the ride-hailing service Uber. Finally, the three automotive groups Mercedes-Benz, Nissan, and Stellantis are also investing in Wayve.
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Uber wants to increase its stake
Uber has also pledged to increase its stake so that 1.5 billion US dollars are available for the launch of the commercial service. Wayve's robotaxis are set to launch in London. Other cities are to follow.
In addition, Wayve wishes to market its system to car manufacturers. They can then integrate it as an assistance system into their vehicles. The spectrum ranges from semi-automated driving without hands on the steering wheel (Level 2+) to highly automated driving (Level 4).
According to the company, the system for autonomous driving runs on the vehicle's computer and does not require high-resolution maps or location-specific technology. Wayve has trained it with data from over 70 countries. This enabled test drives in over 500 cities in Europe, North America, and Japan last year without prior city-specific fine-tuning.
Wayve is not the only player planning to deploy autonomous taxis in London this year: competition comes from Alphabet subsidiary Waymo as well as ride-hailing services Uber and Lyft. Both plan to deploy vehicles equipped with the Apollo Go system from the Chinese digital group Baidu.
(wpl)