Uber will also use Wayve\u2019s technology to power its first test fleet of robotaxis, which will hit the streets of London shortly (the exact date is under wraps). The trial will expand to 10 cities.<\/p>\n
Like the pilot for Elon Musk\u2019s Tesla robotaxis in the US, there will initially be a human minder in the front seat. <\/p>\n
Uber\u2019s Wayve-powered robotaxis will also compete against the Google-backed Waymo, which already has a commercial robotaxi service (with no human minders) in multiple US cities.<\/p>\n
Speaking to the Herald earlier this week, Kendall said the key difference with his company\u2019s autonomous-driving AI is that it\u2019s made to work with any make or model of new car \u2013 and it\u2019s hardware-neutral. <\/p>\n
Whether a car \u201csees\u201d the world around it via camera, radar or LiDAR (Laser Imaging, Detection and Ranging) or other sensors, Wayve\u2019s technology can work with the data so the car can drive itself.<\/p>\n
\u201cEveryone wants autonomy, not everyone wants to buy a Tesla,\u201d Kendall said.<\/p>\n
Wayve will never make its own robotaxi, like Elon Musk\u2019s firm. Instead, it will license its self-driving tech to all-comers.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s also under wraps what brand or brands of car will be used in Uber\u2019s robotaxi trial. (Waymo uses a modified Jaguar I-Pace with extra hardware piled onto its roof.)<\/p>\n
But there are now many options, and more are on the way.<\/p>\n
In December, Wayve signed a \u201cdefinitive agreement\u201d with Nissan to integrate Wayve\u2019s AI across \u201ca broad range of Nissan vehicles\u201d for \u201cadvanced driver-less assistance systems\u201d. The first model with Wayve technology onboard will appear in 2027, Nissan says.<\/p>\n
Kendall says a broad range of car makers will offer a \u201clevel two\u2033 driverless technology next year, based on Wayve AI. <\/p>\n
Level two allows a vehicle to steer, navigate and respond to traffic by itself, as well as a person in the driver\u2019s seat with hover hands (as is the case for the Tesla\u2019s self-drive, now enabled for NZ roads, with a few hairy moments in its early days).<\/p>\n
Support for level three and four \u2013 where the driver doesn\u2019t need any eyes on the road \u2013 is in the works.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a race to bring this to the market. It won\u2019t be something that just Tesla has,\u201d Kendall says.<\/p>\n
His firm \u2013 which now boasts more than 1000 staff across six countries \u2013 has now tested its driverless technology in more than 500 cities.<\/p>\n
Kendall says cars using Wayve AI can deal with whatever conditions happen to be around them. They are not going to get confounded by erratic drivers at roundabouts or roadworks because they\u2019re not trying to match everything to a high-definition map.<\/p>\n
Wayve\u2019s system is also fully self-contained on a car, so there should be no incidents like the recent clip out of San Francisco of four Waymos blocking a street during a power cut.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not just about technical breakthroughs, however. Some people have an instinctively hostile reaction to a driverless car. A Waymo stopped at a traffic light can be the target for petty hijinks or worse. A November incident where a Waymo struck and killed a cat<\/a> led to neighbourhood protests. <\/p>\n Kendall says accident statistics show that AI-driven cars have far fewer accidents compared to those controlled by humans.<\/p>\n Waymo, whose vehicles have now driven more than 100 million miles (see clips of my ride in LA here<\/a>), says its cars have been in 90% fewer \u201cserious injury or worse\u201d crashes per million miles driven than human-driven vehicles (see its full stats here<\/a>). <\/p>\n A big majority of crashes on the human side are caused by human error or misdeeds, from drunkenness to distraction to speeding to road rage. AI can make mistakes, but it doesn\u2019t indulge in those bad behaviours.<\/p>\n Kendall is up with the stats in part because Wayve is co-secretary of a United Nations working party that has created global regulations for automated driving systems, to which New Zealand is a party and is \u201cdeeply engaged with regulators around the world\u201d. The ex-pat has been a visitor to No 10.<\/p>\n Fewer crashes aren\u2019t the only benefit. Self-driving cars always take the most efficient route, saving on fuel costs and carbon emissions. They\u2019re a boon for older people.<\/p>\n He adds that Wayve AI can be built into any mass market vehicle at low cost, \u201cunlike a solution that requires expensive infrastructure or can only run in affluent cities\u201d.<\/p>\n Into AI before the craze<\/p>\n Christchurch-raised Kendall, a Christ\u2019s College old boy, went to Auckland University, where he graduated with an honours degree in mechatronics engineering after skipping the first year.<\/p>\n He then won a Woolf Fisher Scholarship research fellowship to Trinity College, Cambridge, where he completed a doctorate in deep learning, computer vision and robotics in 2017 \u2013 the same year he co-founded Wayve, where today he is chief executive.<\/p>\n As a side gig, he served as a scientific adviser to London-based AI start-up Scape Technologies, a maker of \u201ccity-scale localisation with computer vision\u201d 3D mapping technology acquired by Facebook for a reported US$40m in late 2019.<\/p>\n Matthew Scarborough, who became friends with Kendall at the University of Auckland\u2019s engineering school and also moved to London (albeit for a job in investment banking rather than tech), and is still a close mate, told the Herald that Kendall stood out as \u201ca near-genius \u2013 always the smartest guy in the class yet understated. It\u2019s remarkable how humble he\u2019s remained”.<\/p>\n Another Auckland University engineering grad, Jeff Hawke, served as Wayve\u2019s VP of technology before leaving in 2023 for a stealth start-up.<\/p>\n NZ financial backing<\/p>\n Wayve\u2019s US$1.2b Series D round announced today (part of a total US$1.5b including capital chipped in by Uber) was at a US$8.6b valuation.<\/p>\n Auckland venture capital firm Icehouse Ventures put $12.5m into the round, a sizeable punt by local standards.<\/p>\n \u201cAlex Kendall founded Wayve out of his PhD research at Cambridge and has spent nearly a decade turning that work into a production-ready autonomous driving platform now operating on public roads,\u201d Icehouse partner Jo Wickham said.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat Wayve is building \u2013 a generalised AI that learns to navigate the physical world \u2013 has implications that extend well beyond the car, and backing a Kiwi founder building at that frontier is the kind of investment Icehouse Ventures was built to make.\u201d<\/p>\n