Autonomous driving company Wayve poised for $500 million investment by NVIDIA
In a significant move for the autonomous driving industry, NVIDIA has announced a potential investment of $500 million in Wayve, a UK-based company specialising in AI for autonomous driving. This investment, planned for 2023, follows a letter of intent signed by the two companies to deepen their partnership and support Wayve’s technology expansion.
The collaboration between Wayve and NVIDIA dates back to 2018, with each generation of Wayve's robot platforms accelerated by NVIDIA technology. This partnership has now taken a new turn with NVIDIA's participation in Wayve's £850m Series C funding round, investing £500 million alongside SoftBank and Microsoft.
Alex Kendall, co-founder and CEO of Wayve, stated that the continued support from NVIDIA underscores confidence in their AV2.0 approach to building embodied AI and its potential to transform the future of mobility. Embodied AI, the next frontier of AI innovation, goes beyond generative AI and large language models, aiming to replicate human-like behaviours in real-world environments.
Wayve's foundation model approach, combined with NVIDIA's computing platforms, aims to provide automakers with advanced embodied AI and hardware. The company has developed hardware-agnostic AI driving models for mapless autonomous driving, setting them apart in the industry.
The upcoming Wayve Gen 3 platform will be built on NVIDIA DRIVE AGX Thor, a powerful computing platform designed for autonomous vehicles. This latest platform aims to push the frontier of embodied AI, advancing the Wayve AI Driver toward eyes-off (Level 3) and driverless (Level 4) capabilities across urban and highway domains.
Jensen Huang, NVIDIA's boss, has confirmed the £500m investment in Nscale, although it's unclear if this is related to the Wayve investment. This innovation could enhance the usability and safety of autonomous driving systems, enabling them to navigate complex, unpredictable situations.
Wayve has developed a suite of innovative technologies, including fleet learning, data infrastructure, evaluation, and simulation platforms, to improve their AI models. Their headquarters is in London, where they continue to innovate and push the boundaries of AI for autonomous driving.
This investment could mark a paradigm shift in how machines interact with human behaviour in real-world environments, paving the way for a future where autonomous vehicles are not just a novelty, but a common sight on our roads.
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