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Wayve looks to bring self-driving cars worldwide after securing $1.5b in capital

Author
Newstalk ZB,
Publish Date
Thu, 26 Feb 2026, 9:25am
Photo / Getty
Photo / Getty

Wayve looks to bring self-driving cars worldwide after securing $1.5b in capital

Author
Newstalk ZB,
Publish Date
Thu, 26 Feb 2026, 9:25am

Someday soon your Uber could arrive with no one in the driver’s seat, and a Kiwi’s tech is behind the shift. 

UK self-driving company Wayve, spearheaded by Alex Kendall, has secured $1.5 billion in capital to support to the commercial roll out of their ‘Robotaxis’.  

The funding round also includes backing from Mercedes, Nissan, Microsoft and Nvidia, while local VC Icehouse Ventures is contributing $12.5 million to the capital raise. 

Kendall told Mike Hosking there’s a couple of different ways to commercialise self-driving technology – creating your own cars, running your own fleets, or licensing the technology. 

Wayve is using the third option, and he says the AI they’ve built is so flexible that it will be able to bring self-driving technology worldwide. 

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