Wayve CEO shares his key ingredients for scaling autonomous driving tech

Wayve co-founder and CEO Alex Kendall sees promise in bringing his autonomous vehicle startup’s tech to market. That is, if Wayve sticks to its strategy of ensuring its automated driving software is cheap to run, hardware agnostic, and can be applied to advanced driver-assistance systems, robotaxis, and even robotics. The strategy, which Kendall laid out during Nvidia’s GTC conference, begins with an end-to-end data-driven learning approach. This means that what the system “sees” through a variety of sensors (like cameras) directly translates into how it drives (like deciding to brake or turn left). Moreover, it means the system doesn’t need to rely on HD maps or rules-based software, as earlier versions of AV tech has. The approach has attracted investors. Wayve, which launched in 2017 and has raised more than $1.3 billion over the past two years, plans to license its self-driving software to automotive and fleet partners, such as Uber. The company hasn’t yet announced any automoti ... Read full article.