Chipmakers AMD, Arm, and Qualcomm are all investing in this buzzy self-driving tech startup

Chipmakers AMD, Arm, and Qualcomm have invested $60 million into U.K. self-driving technology startup Wayve as part of an extension to its recent $1.2 billion Series D funding round, the companies announced Wednesday. Wayve already brought in a who’s who of strategic investors for its Series D round, including Mercedes-Benz, Nissan, and Stellantis, and returning backers Nvidia, Microsoft, and Uber. Other earlier investors like Eclipse, Balderton, and SoftBank Vision Fund 2 also joined the round, which could grow again; Uber has committed another $300 million in a milestone-based investment contingent on deploying robotaxis outfitted with Wayve’s tech in London. The involvement of AMD, Arm, and the venture arm of Qualcomm is about more than money, though. It’s also about tapping into the variety of compute platforms that Wayve’s self-driving system will need to use. Wayve built a self-driving system that isn’t reliant on specific sensors, chips, or high-definition maps. Instead, Wayve’s software uses an end-to-end neural network that only uses data — captured from whatever sensors are on the vehicle — to direct and teach the vehicle how to drive. Wayve’s software can also run on whatever chip its OEM (original equipment manufacturer) partners already have in their vehicles. The startup’s self-driving tech underpins two products that it is selling to automakers and tech companies. It developed an “eyes on” assisted-driving system, which requires the driver to remain attentive and ready to intervene, and an “eyes off” fully automated-driving system that can handle all of the driving in certain environments and be applied to robotaxis or consumer vehicles.