AI Company Wayve Secures Over $1 Billion To Develop AI For Self-Driving Vehicles

Backed by SoftBank Group, NVIDIA and Microsoft, Wayve will use this investment to develop and launch the first “embodied AI” technology for self-driving vehicles in the UK.

Embodied AI will enable self-driving (otherwise known as automated) vehicles to learn from and interact with a real-world environment, including the ability to navigate and learn from situations that do not follow strict patterns or rules, such as unexpected actions by drivers or pedestrians – going far beyond the capabilities of existing AV technology.

This investment cements the UK’s position as a world leader in these emerging industries, with both the self-driving vehicle and AI sectors bringing huge potential for economic growth as they develop. Between 2018 and 2022, the UK self-driving vehicle sector alone generated £475 million of direct investment and created 1,500 new jobs.

As the self-driving vehicle industry grows in the UK, it is expected to be worth £42 billion and create 38,000 more skilled jobs by 2035. The AI sector also already employs more than 50,000 people in the UK and contributes more than £3.7 billion to our economy every year. By 2035, our AI market is forecast to grow to over $1 trillion.

Founded in the UK in 2017, Wayve is a home-grown British success story and a testament to the UK’s global leadership in creating the economic and regulatory conditions for start-ups in the AI and self-driving vehicle industries to grow and thrive.

Wayve has said that their advancements in self-driving vehicle technology have been supported by the UK’s Code of Practice: Automated Vehicle Trialling, which sets out a clear framework to support and promote the safe trailing of self-driving vehicle technology. The code of practice is world-leading in its pro-innovation and flexible approach towards the development and testing of self-driving in the UK.

It relies on the company taking accountability for safety, without the requirement for onerous regulatory processes and red tape. Wayve has said the UK’s approach has been integral to their ability to build AI for assisted and automated driving so quickly.

Wayve’s investment comes as the UK’s Automated Vehicle Bill is set to conclude its passage through parliament in the coming weeks and will lay the foundation for innovative British companies like Wayve to scale up and deploy their self-driving technology to increase safety and unlock a market worth up to £42 billion.

The Automated Vehicles Bill will unlock a transport revolution by enabling the safe deployment of self-driving vehicles - reinforcing the UK’s position as a global leader in this high growth industry and deliver one of the world’s most comprehensive legal frameworks for self-driving vehicles, with safety at its core.

Under the Bill’s provisions all self-driving vehicles will be required to undergo robust safety testing before they are permitted to drive on UK roads. The Bill will also ensure clear legal liability when a vehicle is driving itself by creating new legal entities responsible for self-driving vehicles.

Self-driving vehicles also have the potential to make transport safer, more convenient and more accessible, improving the lives of millions of people. With 88% of accidents currently involving human error, there is also huge potential for automated vehicles to reduce costs, injuries, and fatalities

The UK already has a world-leading technology sector, with the UK becoming only the 3rd country (behind the US and China) in the world to have a tech sector valued at over $1 trillion in total.

The UK is also an Artificial Intelligence superpower – being home to 3rd highest number of AI companies and private capital investment in AI in the world. The UK also accounts for around half of all AI private capital investment in Europe and hundreds more AI companies are starting up in the UK every year, growing our economy and creating highly-skilled, well-paid jobs.

Some of the world’s biggest AI companies including Open AI and Anthropic have chosen London as the base for their first international offices in a huge vote of confidence in our approach to AI. Microsoft recently announced a new AI hub in London, and one of the leaders in the field, Google DeepMind was also founded here over a decade ago and remains in the UK to this day.

The government is committed to delivering a regulatory approach that drives both safety and innovation when it comes to AI, which we’ve set out in our response to the AI Regulation White Paper.