Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang descended on the United Kingdom this week, armed with a pledge to invest £2 billion ($2.6 billion) to supercharge the country’s AI startup ecosystem. Wayve, the UK-based self-driving tech startup, could be one of those to receive funds from Nvidia’s AI investment commitment, the company told TechCrunch.
Wayve said it has signed a letter of intent with Nvidia to evaluate a $500 million strategic investment in the U.K. startup’s next funding round. Nvidia participated in Wayve’s $1.05 billion Series C round that closed in May 2024.
A Wayve spokesperson confirmed that the $500 million tentative commitment is part of Nvidia’s AI startup investment pledge.
Nvidia said during an event Thursday the £2 billion commitment would include funds from venture-capital investors Accel, Air Street Capital, Balderton, Hoxton Ventures and Phoenix Court. An Nvidia spokesperson declined to comment on the letter of intent announcement.
Wayve co-founder and CEO Alex Kendall wouldn’t provide TechCrunch with a projected closing date for its Series D round. Kendall did say the company was “working quickly towards it.”
Wayve, which launched in 2017, has gained attention and investors for its automated driving system that uses a self-learning versus rules-based approach to its self-driving software. Wayve’s end-to-end neural network doesn’t require high-definition maps and only uses data to teach the vehicle how to drive. That data-driven learning approach is used for “eyes on” assisted driving and an “eyes off” fully automated driving system.
The company plans to sell its “Embodied AI” to automakers and other tech companies.
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Wayve’s self-learning approach, which is similar to the strategy that Tesla uses, is seen as particularly appealing to automakers because it’s not reliant on specific sensors or maps. This means Wayve’s system can work with existing sensors like cameras and radar. The automated driving software captures data from those sensors, which directly informs the driving decisions of the system.
And while Wayve’s software can run on whatever chip its OEM partners already have in their vehicles, the startup has had a close development relationship with Nvidia since 2018.
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