Wayve: Now AI Can Power 'Every Vehicle That Moves'

UK-based autonomous driving company Wayve has successfully closed a US$1.2bn Series D funding round, reaching a post-money valuation of US$8.6bn.

This significant capital injection was led by Eclipse, Balderton and SoftBank Vision Fund 2. Notable participation came from technology giants Microsoft and NVIDIA, along with Uber and major automotive manufacturers including Mercedes-Benz, Nissan, and Stellantis.

The company plans to use the funds to finance the commercial rollout of Wayve's AI Driver platform globally across consumer vehicles and ride-hailing fleets. This follows a US$1.05bn Series C round in 2024, which was then Europe's biggest ever AI investment.

Global expansion of embodied ai systems

The funding aims to move the company from research to scaled commercial operations. Alex Kendall, Co-Founder and CEO of Wayve, says: “With US$1.5bn secured, we are building for a total addressable market that spans every vehicle that moves.

"This investment accelerates our path to widespread commercial deployment and positions us to build the autonomy layer that will power any vehicle everywhere.”

Unlike traditional rule-based systems that depend on high-definition maps, Wayve’s AI Driver is a foundation model trained on diverse driving data from over 70 countries. The technology operates using onboard compute and embedded sensors, requiring no location-specific engineering.

Commercial robotaxi launch in London

Uber has joined the Series D round and committed further milestone-based capital to support the deployment of Wayve-powered robotaxis.

The first commercial service is planned for London in 2026, followed by a rollout in at least 10 international markets. Under this partnership, Uber will own and operate a fleet of L4-capable electric vehicles provided by participating manufacturers.

Dara Khosrowshahi, CEO of Uber, says: “We are very proud to continue to deepen our partnership with Wayve, with plans to deploy together in more than 10 markets around the world.

"Wayve’s powerful end-to-end approach is purpose-built for scale, safety and effectiveness, and we’re excited to work with them across multiple OEMs and geographies, which we’ll share more about soon.”

Licensing models for automotive manufacturers

From 2027, passenger vehicles featuring the AI Driver will be available to consumers, beginning with L2+ hands-off capability. Wayve licenses its technology directly to automakers, allowing for brand-specific customisation.

Because the software runs on native sensors and existing onboard compute, automakers do not need to redesign their hardware platforms entirely.

A production partnership with Nissan was signed in 2025 to integrate the system into the next-generation ProPILOT assistance suites.

Antonio Filosa, CEO of Stellantis, says: "We see strong potential for collaboration as we advance our autonomy roadmap, including our driverless AV Ready Platforms, with the clear objective of delivering safer and more intuitive driving experiences for customers worldwide."

Training infrastructure and cloud partnerships

The training of these massive foundation models is supported by Microsoft Azure’s cloud infrastructure.

Satya Nadella, Chairman and CEO of Microsoft, says: "Wayve is pushing the frontier of embodied AI for autonomous driving and Azure supports the scale, reliability and safety needed to bring that innovation into the real world.

"Through our partnership and investment, we’re helping accelerate the path from breakthrough research to scaled commercial deployment with automakers worldwide."

UK Technology Secretary of State Liz Kendall said that the fundraise reaffirms Britain’s position as a leading scale-up ecosystem.

The company has now industrialised its safety-by-design architecture into a production-ready platform, completing its shift from research leadership to international commercial deployment.