Wayve, a British autonomous vehicle technology company, has secured €1.02 billion in fresh funding from investors including Uber, Microsoft and chipmaker Nvidia, as it advances plans to deploy robotic taxis on the streets of the United Kingdom.
The Series D round, one of the largest ever completed by a UK start up, values the London headquartered company at approximately €7.29 billion, according to Reuters.
Major Investors And Valuation
The funding round was supported by leading technology companies, institutional investors and car manufacturers. Uber invested additional capital to support the implementation of driverless taxi services.
Automotive manufacturers Mercedes Benz, Nissan and Stellantis also participated in the investment.
Wayve stated that it has secured a total of €1.27 billion in funding to date. Co founder and Chief Executive Officer Alex Kendall said: “With €1.27 billion secured, we are building a full stack market that covers every moving vehicle.”
He added: “Autonomy will not scale only through the deployment of robotic taxis in every city. It will scale through a robust platform that automakers and fleets can deploy globally and continuously improve.”
Uber Chief Executive Officer Dara Khosrowshahi said: “We are very proud to continue deepening our partnership with Wayve, with plans for joint development in more than 10 markets worldwide. Wayve’s strong, integrated approach is designed specifically for scale, safety and efficiency, and we are excited to work with them across multiple original equipment manufacturers and geographies, which we will share more about soon.”
UK Technology Secretary Liz Kendall described Wayve as “a powerful example of the strength, ambition and capability of Britain’s innovative businesses”, adding that the fundraising demonstrates international confidence in the country’s artificial intelligence sector.
Plans For Robotic Taxi Deployment
Wayve plans to begin in London in partnership with Uber. The company intends to launch robotic taxi services in the capital later this year and to begin commercial trials in 2026.
It also aims to deploy its “supervised autonomy software” in consumer vehicles from 2027.
At the same time, US competitor Waymo has announced plans to make its private driverless hire vehicles available in London from next year.
Technology And Development Model
Wayve’s technology uses artificial intelligence models trained to drive using video content, driving data and pattern recognition. The company avoids detailed three dimensional maps and manually coded rules, instead relying on a self learning AI driver trained through camera data and real world driving experience.
Wayve Technologies Ltd was founded in Cambridge in 2017 by Amar Shah and Alex Kendall, both machine learning PhD students at the University of Cambridge.
In 2019, the company achieved a milestone by training a vehicle to drive autonomously on public roads it had not previously encountered, using only cameras, a basic GPS map and end to end deep learning control. Later that year, it relocated its headquarters to London and secured €16.94 million in Series A funding.
The investment enabled the launch of a pilot fleet of autonomous electric vehicles in central London for real world testing. Vehicles, including modified Jaguar I PACE SUVs, navigated complex and narrow city streets to demonstrate adaptability in urban environments.
Expansion And Strategic Partnerships
In 2020, Amar Shah left the company and Alex Kendall assumed the role of Chief Executive Officer.
That same year, Wayve joined the Microsoft for Startups Autonomous Driving programme, using Microsoft Azure cloud computing to train machine learning models at scale. The company committed to testing exclusively on electric vehicles in line with its carbon reduction objectives.
In 2021, Wayve entered pilot programmes with major UK retailers. It began a 12 month autonomous delivery trial with supermarket chain Asda and received €11.52 million in investment from Ocado Group as part of a partnership to develop autonomous grocery delivery vans. The collaboration provided access to a fleet of delivery vehicles to gather data and conduct testing in busy London routes, with safety drivers present.
Following a significant Series B round in 2022, Wayve expanded road testing beyond the United Kingdom. By 2023, it was operating in the United States and continental Europe in preparation for broader commercial deployment.
In 2023, the company announced a partnership with Nissan. The Japanese car manufacturer will integrate Wayve’s AI based software into its next generation driver assistance system, scheduled for release in fiscal year 2027.
In 2024, Wayve secured a strategic investment from Uber to jointly develop autonomous ride hailing services. The companies plan to trial a fully self driving robotic taxi service in London as early as 2026, supported by a UK government programme aimed at accelerating commercial autonomous driving pilots.
To demonstrate scalability, Wayve conducted its “AI 500” roadshow project across dozens of cities in Asia, Europe and North America using the same AI model. By mid 2025, it had completed autonomous driving demonstrations in 90 cities without prior high definition mapping.
In April 2025, the company opened its first Asian research hub in Japan, supported by investor SoftBank, to improve model generalisation using local driving data.
In September 2025, Wayve secured a signed letter of intent for a potential $500 million investment in its next funding round from Nvidia.