Tech giant Microsoft (MSFT) and investment firm SoftBank (SFTBY) are reportedly ready to press the gas pedal on up to $2 billion in new funding for British autonomous driving technology group Wayve.
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MSFT shares rose over 1% in pre-market trading.
Big Backers
According to an article in the Financial Times, the three companies are in talks to raise between $1 billion and $2 billion, which could value the firm at about $8 billion.
This comes only a few weeks after semiconductor giant Nvidia (NVDA) signed a letter of intent for a potential $500 million investment in the London-based group.
Founded in 2017, Wayve raised over $1 billion last year, led by SoftBank Group and supported by both Microsoft and Nvidia. Ride-hailing platform Uber (UBER) had also made a separate investment in the firm in 2024, for an undisclosed sum.
Nvidia also supplies the chips to power the Wayve platforms. Indeed, the upcoming Wayve Gen 3 platform will be built on NVIDIA DRIVE AGX Thor.
The interest shown from these major firms is not just down to the potential of Wayve’s tech but the need to stay ahead of the pack when it comes to innovation. This is why – see above – it is such a key risk to companies like Microsoft and its investors.
WAYVE Hello
Wayve’s technology, unlike conventional systems that rely on detailed digital maps and coding, uses machine learning with camera sensors mounted on the vehicles to learn from traffic patterns and driver behavior. Its main rivals are Alphabet’s (GOOGL) Waymo, Tesla (TSLA), China’s BYD (BYDDY) and Amazon’s (AMZN) Zoox.
Wayve currently operates in Britain and the U.S. and has been expanding testing and development to wider markets like Germany and Japan. It signed its first partnership to deploy its technology with a major carmaker, Nissan (NSANY), back in April.
The deal means Wayve will install its technology into Nissan vehicles from 2027.
Japan has been slower to develop and adopt autonomous driving than the U.S.. Europe has also been a laggard so expect some deals for Wayve there in the upcoming months.
Wayve, Microsoft and SoftBank did not comment on the FT report.
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