British startup Wave announced Tuesday that it has raised $1.05 billion in an investment round led by Japan. Softbank Accelerate the growth of autonomous vehicle technology.
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The funding is a major vote of confidence for the Cambridge-based company. It also builds on the large amount of funding currently being deployed in the AI space.
“Wayve’s vision is not only to deliver on millions of vehicles, but also to seamlessly integrate into people’s daily lives and build trust in people,” said Alex Kendall, co-founder and CEO of Wayve. to develop self-driving technology that captures and unlocks extraordinary value.” said in a statement.
“This significant funding milestone underscores our team’s unwavering belief that Embodied AI addresses the longstanding challenges the industry has faced in scaling this technology to everyone, everywhere. doing.”
Founded in 2017, Wayve is one of many startups working toward autonomous driving, technology that would allow cars to drive effectively without a human at the controls.
Unlike teslaWave, which makes its own cars, licenses its self-driving technology to other companies, including retailers and automakers.
A vote of confidence in British technology
Wayve uses an array of cameras and sensors to map out its surroundings, allowing cars to move safely through dense urban areas with little or no human oversight.
The company is focused on developing “embodied AI” technology for self-driving cars, featuring AI that can understand and adapt to the unpredictable realities of the physical world.
For example, if a car equipped with self-driving technology is to drive on a road in a residential area, it will need equipment for unpredictable situations such as pedestrian crossings.
British Chancellor Rishi Sunak on Tuesday welcomed news of Wave’s latest funding round, saying it was “a testament to our leadership in this industry”.
“From the first light bulb and the world wide web to AI and self-driving cars, the UK has a proud track record of being at the forefront of some of the biggest technological advances in history,” Mr Sunak said in a statement.
“We are extremely proud that the UK is home to pioneers like Wayve who are breaking ground in developing next-generation AI models for self-driving cars.”
According to the UK Government, between 2018 and 2022, the UK autonomous vehicle sector generated £475m of direct investment and created 1,500 new jobs.