Artificial Intelligence · Profile from AI Research Companion
Wayve
The London self-driving company, founded in Cambridge in 2017 by Alex Kendall and Amar Shah, that bet on "end-to-end" learning — a single neural network trained on driving data that goes from camera pixels to steering and speed, instead of the hand-built modules and detailed maps of the first robotaxi generation. Wayve does not build cars or run a fleet. It sells software, the "Wayve AI Driver", to carmakers (Nissan from fiscal 2027) and fleet partners (Uber), on whatever sensors and chips the vehicle already has. It became Europe's best-funded AI start-up of its type: a ~$1.05bn Series C led by SoftBank with Nvidia and Microsoft (May 2024), and a ~$1.2bn Series D at an $8.6bn post-money valuation in February 2026, plus ~$300m from Uber (reported). In September 2026 it began supervised robotaxi rides with Uber across most of London — the UK's first public autonomous trips (reported) — while its revenue remains small and undisclosed.
At a glance
- Founded
- 2017, Cambridge, England, by Alex Kendall (CEO; PhD in computer vision and deep learning at Cambridge) and Amar Shah (Cambridge machine-learning PhD; left the company, verify date)
- Headquarters
- London; operations and testing in the UK, the US (San Francisco Bay Area), Germany and Japan (company, 2025–26, verify full list)
- Ownership / structure
- Private (Wayve Technologies Ltd). Investors include Eclipse, Balderton, SoftBank Vision Fund 2, Microsoft, Nvidia, Uber, Mercedes-Benz, Nissan, Stellantis, Baillie Gifford, D1 and Virgin (reported)
- Leadership (2026)
- Alex Kendall (co-founder and CEO); other executives verify (company site)
- AI products
- Wayve AI Driver (end-to-end driving model, supervised "hands-off" for carmakers and Level 4 for fleets); LINGO-1/LINGO-2 (vision-language-action driving models, 2023–24); GAIA-1/GAIA-2 generative world models for simulation (2023, 2025); PRISM-1 scene reconstruction (2024, verify)
- Scale
- Pre-scale revenue (not disclosed; UK filings show losses, verify); supervised robotaxi rides with Uber in London from 3 September 2026 (reported); Nissan ProPILOT production from FY2027 (company)
- Capital raised
- ~$20m Series A led by Eclipse (2019, reported, verify); $200m Series B led by Eclipse (January 2022); ~$1.05bn Series C led by SoftBank with Nvidia and Microsoft (7 May 2024), extended with Uber (August 2024, undisclosed); Nvidia letter of intent for up to ~$500m (September 2025, reported); ~$1.2bn Series D at $8.6bn post-money led by Eclipse, Balderton and SoftBank Vision Fund 2, plus ~$300m from Uber (February 2026, reported)
- Key partnerships
- Uber (London robotaxi; up to 12 markets planned, reported); Nissan (ProPILOT); Microsoft (Azure compute, from 2020); Nvidia (chips and investment); Asda and Ocado (grocery-delivery pilots, 2021–22); Mercedes-Benz and Stellantis (investors, reported)
- Signature moves (incl. failures)
- The end-to-end founding bet (2017); the Series B and the grocery-delivery pilots (2022); LINGO and GAIA world models (2023); the SoftBank-led Series C and the UK Automated Vehicles Act (2024); Uber's investment and the London robotaxi plan (2024–25); the Nissan ProPILOT deal (2025); the Series D at $8.6bn (2026); London's first supervised robotaxi rides (2026)
8 strategic moves analysed
Each one gets a full strategy file in the companion: context, the decision, the financing, what happened, and the lesson.
2017
Founding and End to End Learning
Founding
2022
Series B and Grocery Delivery Pilots
Funding round / pilot
2023
LINGO and GAIA World Models
Model release
2024
SoftBank Led Series C and the AV Act
Funding round / regulation
2024
Uber Investment and London Robotaxi Plan
Partnership / investment
2025
Nissan ProPilot Deal
Partnership / licence
2026
London Supervised Robotaxi Launch with Uber
Launch
2026
Series D at 8 6bn
Funding round