Wayve, a London -based independent driving company, has accelerated international expansion after collecting more than a billion dollars of investors including SoftBank, Microsoft and Nvidia in one of the largest artificial intelligence deals in Europe last year.

Alex Kendall, co -founder of the founder and CEO of Wayve, said that he was testing his self -driving cars in Germany and the United States, putting their attention on Japan, and she was hoping to escalate her first deals with her ” Car manufacturers To build its programs in production vehicles.

“We have moved from the United Kingdom to the United States and now Germany, and we do not stop there,” Kendall said. In 2025, he called “the year of global expansion”, and told the Financial Times that he was “very excited” about SoftBank in Japan, adding: “Watch this space.”

Founded in 2017, Road It has emerged as one of the highest artificial intelligence companies in the United Kingdom at a time when British and European leaders are concerned to ensure that the continent is not left by the United States and China in the advanced industry quickly.

It is also seen as the best hope in Europe in independent driving, as Tesla and UK -based Tesla and Waymo are against Chinese competitors including the BYD electric motor maker, Robotaxis from Baidu, Weride and Weeride Pony.ai.

Wayve created an office in Stuttgart and began fleet operations in Germany late last month after obtaining the necessary organizational approvals for an independent test. The experimental test permit will allow the German auto organizer the way to test through the European Union.

Wayve, who also added Uber as an investor last August, opens external sites to approach the largest car manufacturer in the world while testing its vehicles in new areas, and the leadership of cultures and weather conditions.

He said: “When you think about the location of the power of cars around the world, Germany should be one of the best names.” “I hope that German and European technology can compete on a global scale.”

She opened an office in Silicon Valley and started testing in the San Francisco Bay area last October, and soon planned to lead the West American coast to Vancouver, where there is another location for research and development.

“Global expansion is important for us because if you are a car manufacturer, then it is not good then [assisted driving] A feature only works in one city; “You want to work worldwide,” Kendall said.

AI’s Wayve operates, regardless of where the car is deployed. Kendall said it took only a few weeks to adapt from the streets of the twisted torso to drive on the other side of the road in San Francisco. “We can go to any city in the United Kingdom and now any German city and you will see [a good assisted-driving] Performance, unseen sight. ”

The company takes a different approach to self -government leadership compared to the alphabet -owned Waymo, which expands its robotics operations throughout the United States after publicly launched in San Francisco last year.

Ultimately, Kendall Prints Wayve will be able to provide similar capabilities at the cost of Waymo vehicles, which currently cost tens of thousands of dollars to feed on high -price sensors, including lasers, and computing equipment that its system needs completely driver to work safely.

He argues that this road builds a more flexible and response system that learns with its progress, instead of asking for high -resolution 3D maps and wide -ranging equipment before starting any specific city.

The current Wayve system The “Level 2” program provides advanced assistance and industry terms for a capacity that still requires active monitoring by a human driver behind the wheel, similar to the Tesla Automated Pilot. Like Tesla, Wayve technology depends primarily on cameras and computers that Kendall says cost hundreds of dollars, not tens of thousands.

He said that car manufacturers are already building the necessary devices in some of their high -end cars, so the adoption of the Wayve system will require a simple update of the programs. According to level 3 – “eyes” system may still require a person to restore control – more sensors that are still believed to cost less than $ 2000.

Kendall is betting that this additional approach will be a “faster way” to completely self -authenticity of the Waymo system or nothing.

He said, referring to the point that vehicles can fully lead: “We focus on spreading the system with the main manufacturers in millions of storage units in the units as a helping system for drivers, and using this to develop the experience until level 4 experiences”, referring to the point where vehicles can completely lead.

We have had exploratory conversations with all of nearly [auto manufacturer] There. ”In the past six months, it has just increased. Especially in the past three months, suddenly there is this urgency. “

Recent months have made mixed signals about the future of independent driving, which took many years to reach public roads from what supporters proposed when the self -driving Google project for the first time appeared 15 years ago.

Last October, Elon Musk revealed Tesla “Cybercab” Robotaxi The electricity company hopes to start manufacturing as soon as possible. After Waymo raised a $ 5.6 billion financing round in the same month, Alphabet recently said it was planning to expand its tests to more than 10 new cities this year.

However, General Motors closed the developer of Roberty in December, noting “the time and great resources that will be necessary to expand the scope of work” after pouring more than $ 10 billion in the project since 2016.

Not every auto industry company wanted to be early for self -government cars, as Kendall admitted, given the cost, risks and possible disruption of its current business models.

“There is a real diversity in European companies with how they approached this. He said that some have already told me that they do not want to be the leaders.” “But others said,” We are proud of innovation and be first. “They see the amazing progress that takes place in China and the United States and want to compete.”