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Self-driving tech startup Wayve raises $1.2B from Nvidia, Uber, and three automakers Kirsten Korosec 4:37 PM PST · February 24, 2026 Wayve’s self-driving tech has attracted a diverse set of investors in the company’s latest $1.2 billion funding round, including three automakers, top venture and institutional firms, and returning backers Microsoft, Nvidia, and Uber. The total raise could reach $1.5 billion thanks to another $300 million from Uber contingent on deploying robotaxis, beginning in London.
Everyone, it seems, wants a piece of the U.K. startup, which is now valued at $8.6 billion. The funding round illustrates the eagerness among Big Tech, legacy automakers, and the investor community to profit from the burgeoning automated driving industry.
Wayve provides what founder and CEO Alex Kendall calls the “contrarian” option in automated driving — contrarian both in its approach to tech and its business model, he told TechCrunch in an interview Tuesday.
“I think the technology chessboard is set around where different companies have invested on the technology strategy, and now the commercial chessboard is being arranged,” Kendall said. “We took a very contrarian view on the technology side. We were the first to build end-to-end deep learning for autonomous driving, and we pioneered this approach. Now, when it comes to this phase of moving into commercialization, we’re also taking a contrarian business model approach.”
Wayve , which launched in 2017, uses a self-learning approach to its software. The company developed a software layer using an end-to-end neural network that doesn’t require high-definition maps and only uses data to teach the vehicle how to drive.
This data-driven learning approach underpins two products: an “eyes on” assisted-driving system and an “eyes off” fully automated-driving system that could be applied to robotaxis or consumer vehicles that can handle all of the driving in certain environments.
The company’s pitch to customers is the agnostic nature of its technology, which is not reliant on specific sensors or maps. The automated-driving software captures data from whatever sensors are on the vehicle and directs the system’s driving decisions. Wayve’s software can also run on whatever chip its OEM partners already have in their vehicles.
Techcrunch event Save up to $300 or 30% to TechCrunch Founder Summit 1,000+ founders and investors come together at TechCrunch Founder Summit 2026 for a full day focused on growth, execution, and real-world scaling. Learn from founders and investors who have shaped the industry. Connect with peers navigating similar growth stages. Walk away with tactics you can apply immediately. Offer ends March 13. Save up to $300 or 30% to TechCrunch Founder Summit 1,000+ founders and investors come together at TechCrunch Founder Summit 2026 for a full day focused on growth, execution, and real-world scaling. Learn from founders and investors who have shaped the industry. Connect with peers navigating similar growth stages. Walk away with tactics you can apply immediately Offer ends March 13. Boston, MA | June 9, 2026 REGISTER NOW It should be noted, however, that Nvidia, which is also a backer, has had a close development relationship with Wayve since 2018. The startup’s Gen 3 platform, which was unveiled last fall, uses an in-vehicle compute autonomous vehicle development kit called Nvidia Drive AGX Thor. The Gen 3 platform will allow Wayve to offer eyes-off advanced driving-assistance systems and Level 4 — or fully driverless — features that will work on city streets and highways.
The company’s tech is somewhat similar to how Tesla has approached automated driving, although there are key differences in their business models.
Wayve doesn’t want to be the operator of its hands-free driving-assistance system or its “eyes-off” fully automated-driving system. (For comparison, Waymo is largely the operator of its robotaxis, although it does have partners.) Nor does Wayve want to build vehicles bundled with its own software, as Tesla does. Instead, it is selling its “embodied AI” to automakers and other tech companies like Uber.
Kendall argues that this is the business model with the largest addressable market, but he says it’s only viable because Wayve built an AI that generalizes across different hardware and environments.
“If you build an autonomy stack that’s specific to a sensor or compute architecture, [or] if you build it where it requires mapping or something like this, then you can’t take option three,” Kendall said, referring to the business model his company has chosen.
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