Nvidia eyes $500M investment into self-driving tech startup Wayve | TechCrunch

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang descended on the United Kingdom this week, armed with a pledge to invest £2 billion ($2.6 billion) to supercharge the country’s AI startup ecosystem. Wayve, the U.K.-based self-driving tech startup, could be one of those to receive funds from Nvidia’s AI investment commitment, the company told TechCrunch.

Wayve said it has signed a letter of intent with Nvidia to evaluate a $500 million strategic investment in the U.K. startup’s next funding round. Nvidia participated in Wayve’s $1.05 billion Series C round that closed in May 2024.

A Wayve spokesperson confirmed that the $500 million tentative commitment is part of Nvidia’s AI startup investment pledge.

Nvidia said during an event Thursday the £2 billion commitment would include funds from venture-capital investors Accel, Air Street Capital, Balderton, Hoxton Ventures, and Phoenix Court. An Nvidia spokesperson declined to comment on the letter of intent announcement.

Wayve co-founder and CEO Alex Kendall wouldn’t provide TechCrunch with a projected closing date for its Series D round. Kendall did say the company was “working quickly towards it.”

Wayve, which launched in 2017, has gained attention and investors for its automated driving system that uses a self-learning versus rules-based approach to its self-driving software. Wayve’s end-to-end neural network doesn’t require high-definition maps and only uses data to teach the vehicle how to drive. That data-driven learning approach is used for “eyes on” assisted driving and an “eyes off” fully automated driving system.

The company plans to sell its “Embodied AI” to automakers and other tech companies.

Wayve’s self-learning approach, which is similar to the strategy that Tesla uses, is seen as particularly appealing to automakers because it’s not reliant on specific sensors or maps. This means Wayve’s system can work with existing sensors like cameras and radar. The automated driving software captures data from those sensors, which directly informs the driving decisions of the system.

And while Wayve’s software can run on whatever chip its OEM partners already have in their vehicles, the startup has had a close development relationship with Nvidia since 2018.

Wayve’s generation 2 self-driving platform, which is integrated into its Ford Mach E test vehicles, uses Nvidia GPUs. This week, the startup unveiled gen 3, a platform that uses the in-vehicle compute autonomous vehicle development kit called Nvidia Drive AGX Thor. The gen 3 will allow Wayve to offer eyes-off advanced driving-assistance systems and Level 4 driverless features that will work on city streets and highways.

Nvidia, and in particular Huang, seems keen to be part of Wayve’s future.

“The next trillion-dollar company, you guys,” Huang said in a video featuring his first ride in a Wayve-equipped vehicle on public streets in London. The video, which was viewed by TechCrunch and is slated to be released soon, shows Huang handing Kendall Nvidia’s Thor developer kit.

“We picked him up from his hotel and went for a drive around Central London through some really busy streets, including Hyde Park corner — that’s this massive roundabout here,” Kendall said in an interview Friday. “I really loved that experience, and it was cool to show him what we’ve always been building on as a result of Nvidia’s platform over the years.”