Uber Invests in UK AI Startup Wayve to Accelerate Autonomous Vehicle Development

Uber backs Wayve as it targets level 4 autonomous vehicles

Soon you might be able to hail a self-driving car straight to your door Uber has made an investment in Wayve, as the ride-hailing giant positions itself to profit from the moment when (or if?) autonomous vehicles finally go mainstream. The undisclosed investment is an extension of Wayve's massive $1bn funding round, announced in May. Under the deal, Uber has taken a minority stake in the London-based self-driving startup. "Wayve's advanced embodied AI approach holds a ton of promise as we work towards a world where modern vehicles are shared, electric, and autonomous," said Uber's CEO Dara Khosrowshahi. Founded in Cambridge in 2017, Wayve fits a regular car with a range of cameras and sensors that interpret the surrounding environment. This data gets fed to Wayve's so-called "embodied AI" system. Unlike many other self-driving AI models, which have to be trained on each possible driving scenario and are confined to geofenced limits, Wayve's AI is more free to act and learn on its own. The more the AI "drives," the better it becomes at responding to hazards. Uber will integrate Wayve's autonomous technology into consumer vehicles "to enable a range of automated driving capabilities," it said in a statement. This integration will start at the lower end of the autonomy spectrum and slowly ramp up to level 4 self-driving cars. Vehicles in this category are so capable of driving themselves they technically need no driver at all. However, there are often geographical restrictions on where this self-driving tech can be used, so drivers are still needed. Level 4 vehicles are often also have their top-speeds limited, and can only driver faster under the control of a human. "Wayve is building a 'general purpose' driving Al that can power all levels of driving automation in any type of vehicle, anywhere in the world," said Alex Kendall, co-founder and CEO of Wayve. Wayve will equip existing vehicles with Level 2+ advanced driver assistance and then Level 3 and 4 automated driving capabilities. Uber eventually intends to launch self-driving vehicles on its app equipped with Wayve's tech. When exactly that will happen largely depends on regulation. Even though the over-hyped autonomous vehicle market has faced a slump in funding amid some high-profile accidents, Uber has aggressively sought to become the ride-hailing platform for people looking to experience self-driving cars. The San Francisco based firm announced a similar tie-up with US autonomous driving startup Cruise last week. Uber has also offered rides in vehicles operated by Google autonomous car spinoff Waymo.

Uber takes another big autonomous step with investment in AI tech firm Wayve

Uber Technologies (NYSE:UBER) has made a strategic investment in Wayve as an extension of the AI tech company's previously announced Series C fundraising round. With the additional funding and support from Uber, Wayve said it plans to accelerate its work with global OEMs to enhance consumer vehicles with Level 2+ advanced driver assistance and Level 3 automated driving capabilities, while also working towards the development of globally scalable Level 4 autonomous vehicles for future deployment on Uber. "The partnership envisions future Wayve-powered self-driving vehicles being made available on the Uber network in multiple markets around the world, bringing Wayve's leading technology to Uber's more than 150 million monthly global users." Wayve CEO Alex Kendall said the company is building a general purpose driving Al that can power all levels of driving automation in any type of vehicle, anywhere in the world. Uber CEO (UBER) Dara Khosrowshahi noted that Wayve's advanced Embodied AI approach holds a "ton of promise" as the company works towards a world where modern vehicles are shared, electric and autonomous. The amount of the investment by Uber (UBER) into Wayve was not disclosed. Wayve was co-founded in 2017 by Alex Kendall, a Cambridge University doctorate student specializing in computer vision and robotics. The London-based startup focuses on developing Embodied AI technology for self-driving vehicles, aiming to create systems that can interact with and learn from their surroundings. Since its inception, Wayve has made significant strides in the autonomous vehicle industry, attracting attention from major investors. In January 2022, the company raised $200 million in a Series B funding round led by Eclipse Ventures.

Uber invests in UK startup Wayve to speed up self-driving projects

LONDON (Reuters) - Ride-hailing platform Uber will invest in Wayve to help the British self-driving technology startup work with major automakers to speed up the development of its systems, the two companies said on Thursday. The companies did not disclose the size of the investment. But they said it would be added to the $1.05 billion in Series C funding Wayve announced in May, which was led by SoftBank Group. Wayve has developed "Embodied AI" technology that it says can learn from and adapt to human behaviour. The company said it would use the funding and support to accelerate the development of Level 2 and Level 3 driver assistance and automated driving functions with automakers, "while also working towards the development of globally scalable Level 4 autonomous vehicles for future deployment on Uber." Level 2 systems are designed to perform basic tasks autonomously, such as staying in lane or maintaining a set distance from other cars, while Level 3 cars are meant to drive themselves, but require the driver to pay attention. Level 4 autonomous vehicles are designed to drive themselves under most circumstances and take action on their own in dangerous situations. While automakers and autonomous vehicle software companies have had more success with basic driver assistance functions such as lane-keeping systems, developing vehicles that can truly drive themselves has proven more difficult and much more expensive than many had expected. Among the main challenges is that self-driving software systems have lacked humans' ability to predict and assess risk quickly, especially when encountering unexpected incidents or "edge cases" where autonomous vehicles get stuck because they cannot work out what to do. (Reporting By Nick Carey; Editing by Andrew Heavens)

UK's Wayve secures strategic investment from Uber to further develop self-driving tech | TechCrunch

Uber is making a strategic investment into Wayve as an extension of the U.K.-born startup's previously announced $1.05 billion Series C round. The partnership will also see the two companies work with automakers to integrate Wayve's AI into consumer vehicles that will one day operate on the ride-hail giant's platform. The tie-up comes a week after Uber announced Cruise's robotaxis would join the Uber app in 2025. It's the latest in a series of autonomous driving technology partnerships that Uber has secured over the past couple of years. Details about Uber's partnership with Wayve are scant, but the startup has made a splash since it launched in Cambridge in 2017. Over the past two years, Wayve has raised over $1.3 billion from backers including SoftBank Group, Nvidia and Microsoft. The startup is developing a self-learning, rather than a rule-based system, for autonomous driving - similar to Tesla's AI. Also like Tesla, Wayve doesn't rely on lidar sensors. It uses cameras and radar to help its AI perceive the world around it. Unlike Tesla, Wayve builds its AI so that other automakers can equip consumer vehicles with its Level 2+ advanced driver assistance system, as well as Level 3 and Level 4 automated driving capabilities. The SAE defines Level 3 and 4 self-driving systems as ones that can operate autonomously under certain conditions. The driver still needs to be ready to take over a Level 3 system, but not with a Level 4 system. Wayve is currently still testing its L2+ technology on Jaguar I-Paces and Ford E-Transits with safety drivers behind the wheel, and has not begun testing L3 and L4, according to a Wayve spokesperson. Wayve did not provide more details as to the nature of its deal with Uber. In a statement, the company said the partnership "envisions future Wayve-powered self-driving vehicles being made available on Uber's network." Neither Wayve nor Uber shared a timeline for Wayve-powered vehicles joining Uber's app; whether those vehicles would be fully self-driving or just equipped with advanced driving assistance technology; or the size of Uber's investment. In a statement, Alex Kendall, Wayve's CEO and co-founder, did say the partnership would help to "massively ramp up our AI's fleet learning, ensuring our AV technology is safe and ready for global deployment across Uber's network." Kendall also noted that together, Wayve and Uber would "work with automotive OEMs to bring autonomous driving technologies to consumers sooner." Uber's CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said in a statement that Wayve's approach to AI "holds a ton of promise" as the company works towards "a world where modern vehicles are shared, electric and autonomous." "We're thrilled to bring Wayve on as a partner to work alongside automakers as we continue to build out Uber as the best network for self-driving vehicles," said Khosrowshahi. In recent weeks, Uber has been positioning itself as the ideal partner for self-driving startups looking to commercialize. Waymo's robotaxis joined the Uber platform in Phoenix last year. Uber has also partnered with autonomous sidewalk delivery robot companies - like Serve Robotics, Cartken and Coco - and autonomous freight startups - like Waabi and Aurora - to bring self-driving capabilities to Uber Eats and Uber Freight.

Uber Pumps Capital Into Nvidia-Backed Wayve's Series C Funding Round - NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA), Uber Technologies (NYSE:UBER)

In a recent strategic move, Uber UBER has announced a partnership with Wayve, a U.K.-based startup Embodied AI for autonomous driving. The ride-hailing giant has also invested in Wayve's Series C funding round. What Happened: As per a press release on Thursday, Wayve and Uber have teamed up to accelerate the development of self-driving technology. Uber's investment is an extension of Wayve's ongoing Series C fundraising round. With Uber's financial support, Wayve aims to expedite its collaboration with global Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) to equip consumer vehicles with Level 2+ advanced driver assistance and Level 3 automated driving capabilities. The company also plans to create globally scalable Level 4 autonomous vehicles for future deployment on Uber. Wayve's approach to Autonomous Vehicle (AV) technology focuses on mapless end-to-end AI, enabling automated vehicles to operate without geofenced limits. The partnership envisions Wayve-powered self-driving vehicles on the Uber network in multiple markets worldwide, bringing Wayve's leading technology to Uber's over 150 million monthly global users. See Also: JD Vance Lashes Out At Kamala Harris For Allowing Chinese Battery Plant In Michigan: She Wants To Pay Communist Party To Build Factories On American Soil Alex Kendall, Co-founder and CEO of Wayve, expressed his enthusiasm about the partnership, stating that it would "massively ramp up our AI's fleet learning, ensuring our AV technology is safe and ready for global deployment across Uber's network." Why It Matters: This partnership follows Uber's previous investments in autonomous vehicle technology. In June, Uber, along with Nvidia Corp. NVDA and Volvo, invested $200 million in autonomous trucking startup Waabi. In August, Uber announced a strategic partnership with General Motors' Cruise to bring autonomous vehicles to its platform. This partnership shed light on Uber's future business model for autonomous car makers. Read Next: Boeing's Former CEO Dennis Muilenburg Said In 2017 His Company Will Beat Elon Musk To Mars. 7 Years Later, It Has Been Forced To Abandon NASA Astronauts At ISS, Who Will Now Be Rescued By SpaceX Image via Shutterstock This story was generated using Benzinga Neuro and edited by Pooja Rajkumari Market News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs