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Tesla and Waymo have been racing to build self-driving cars for years. A British startup called Wayve is taking a different lane. Instead of building its own vehicles, it’s selling its AI driving system as an off-the-shelf solution to traditional automakers, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The strategy seems to be working. Stellantis — the parent company of Jeep, Chrysler, Dodge and Ram — recently committed to rolling out Wayve’s technology across its brands from 2028. Nissan signed a similar deal. Mercedes-Benz, Microsoft, Nvidia and Uber have all backed the company, which is now valued at $8.6 billion after raising $1.5 billion earlier this year.
Founded in 2017, Wayve trained its AI on driving footage from more than 70 countries, meaning it doesn’t need expensive mapping of every city before it can drive there. The company is launching London robotaxi trials with Uber this summer, with consumer vehicles hitting the market from 2027.
CEO Alex Kendall is unapologetic about going against the Silicon Valley grain. “Not everyone wants to buy a Tesla,” he said. “Our opportunity is to bring this technology to every other automaker.”