UK self-driving firm Wayve has received $1.5bn investment in a Series D funding raise, aiming to accelerate the commercial deployment of its artificial intelligence (AI) platform.
Investors included Mercedes-Benz, Stellantis, Nissan Microsoft, Uber, and NVIDIA.
Uber plans to deploy Wayve-powered self-driving taxis through trials in London this year.
Wayve said that consumers will be able to buy passenger vehicles with its technology from next year.
Those vehicles will be equipped with a Level 2 system, similar to Tesla’s Autopilot and Ford’s BlueCruise, which do not require the driver to have their hand on the steering wheel, but do require attention on the road.
Alex Kendall, co-founder and CEO at Wayve, said: “With $1.5 billion secured, we are building for a total addressable market that spans every vehicle that moves.
“Autonomy will not scale through city-by-city robotaxi deployments alone. It will scale through a trusted platform that automakers and fleets can deploy globally and improve continuously.
“This investment accelerates our path to widespread commercial deployment and positions us to build the autonomy layer that will power any vehicle everywhere.”
Dara Khosrowshahi, CEO at Uber, said: “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.”
The $1.5bn funding round was led by Eclipse, Balderton and SoftBank Vision Fund 2. The British Business Bank was among new investors in this round.
Ivan Espinosa, president and CEO at Nissan, said: “This investment deepens our partnership with Wayve and supports Nissan’s plans to advance autonomous driving through scalable end‑to‑end AI.
“By strengthening this collaboration, we are reinforcing our competitiveness in intelligent mobility and our focus on long‑term value creation.”
Antonio Filosa, CEO at Stellantis, said: “Wayve’s embodied‑AI approach and end‑to‑end learning architecture represent an important innovation in autonomous driving technology.
“Their work aligns well with Stellantis’ platform‑driven strategy and our focus on scalable, safety‑first vehicle intelligence.
“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”.
Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology Liz Kendall said: “Wayve is a powerful example of the strength, ambition and potential of Britain’s innovative firms.
“This fund raise demonstrates the international confidence in our brilliant AI sector and reaffirms Britain’s position as the leading scale-up ecosystem in Europe.
“We will continue to create the conditions for world-leading firms like Wayve to start, grow and scale, creating great jobs and opportunities for people in every corner of our country.”
