Mercedes, Stellantis, Uber and others invest in Wayve

Earlier this month, the robotaxi provider Waymo raised $16 billion from investors, while the Canadian startup Waabi partnered with Uber and secured $750 million. Now, it is Wayve’s turn to announce a funding round. The London-based company was founded in 2017 by former Cambridge students Alex Kendall and Amar Shah.

The funding round, totalling $1.2 billion (approximately £1 billion), is led by venture capital firms Eclipse, Balderton, and SoftBank Vision Fund 2. Additional institutional investors, such as Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan and Baillie Gifford, are also participating.

Beyond the sheer scale of financial investment in Wayve, the involvement of six strategic industry partners is particularly noteworthy. Automakers Mercedes-Benz, Nissan, and Stellantis are investing in Wayve to advance the development of its AI platform, which enables advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS) and autonomous driving from SAE Level 2+ (“hands-off, eyes-on”) through Level 3 (“hands-off, eyes-off”) to Level 4 (autonomous driving in defined operational domains).

Uber to invest an additional $300 million

Also joining the round are ride-hailing platform Uber, AI chip provider Nvidia, and software giant Microsoft. Uber plans to invest an additional $300 million, tied to milestones, to expand the global deployment of Wayve-based robotaxis. This could increase the total funding round to $1.5 billion.

The deal once again highlights the collaborative nature of the autonomous driving sector, where nearly all players are forming partnerships. For example, there is already a partnership between Uber, Nvidia, and Stellantis for future Level 4 robotaxis. Mercedes is collaborating with Nvidia on a new driving assistant. Additionally, Uber recently participated in the aforementioned funding round for Waabi, which aims to deploy 25,000 robotaxis on the Uber platform. Uber also partners with Waymo, Lucid/Nuro, Volkswagen, Avride, Pony.ai, WeRide, and May Mobility and Momenta for robotaxi services.

Regarding Wayve itself; the company licenses its AI driving technology directly to automakers and provides tools for adapting driving models to specific vehicles and brands. The system operates exclusively using the vehicle’s onboard computer and sensor infrastructure, requiring neither high-definition maps nor location-specific adjustments. Instead, the company relies on machine learning and has developed a technology akin to large language models like ChatGPT, but applied to the physical world.

Tests already conducted in 500 cities worldwide

Wayve claims to have already conducted zero-shot tests in over 500 cities across Europe, North America, and Japan, meaning no city-specific fine-tuning was required before deployment, unlike the approach currently used by Waymo. A significant portion of these tests was carried out at the test and development centre near Stuttgart, which opened in March 2025.

As early as 2026, Wayve plans to launch its first commercial robotaxi pilot projects in collaboration with Uber. The first of these is set to begin in London, where Waymo also plans to launch its services this year. The Level 4 technology will be integrated into cars from “participating manufacturers,” with Uber owning and operating the fleet. Wayve emphasises that the technology can be installed in production vehicles, enabling a scalable business model.

Uber plans to use Wayve in ten markets worldwide

Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi stated: “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.”

From 2027, the first passenger cars equipped with Wayve’s AI driving system are expected to enter the market, starting with the “hands-off” Level 2+ function, which allows the vehicle to steer, accelerate, brake, and respond to traffic under the driver’s supervision.

Update 17 June 2026

Stellantis signalled its interest in deeper cooperation with Wayve when the autonomous driving specialist announced its funding round. The carmaker has now joined forces with Wayve and Uber to develop robotaxi services. The three-way partnership builds on existing collaborations between Stellantis and Wayve in advanced driver-assistance systems, and between Wayve and Uber, which plan to launch autonomous ride services in London, Tokyo and ten other cities worldwide from this year.

wayve.ai, handelsblatt.com (in German), media.stellantis.com (update)