UK-based autonomous driving startup Wayve has raised $1.2bn in Series D funding, with a post-money valuation of $8.6bn. The round was led by Eclipse, Balderton, and SoftBank Vision Fund 2, with participation from Uber, Microsoft, NVIDIA, and automotive partners like Mercedes-Benz and Nissan.

The funding will support Wayve’s shift towards scaled commercial rollout of its autonomous driving technology. A partnership with Uber aims to introduce a commercial robotaxi service in London by 2026, expanding to more than ten markets. Wayve plans to roll out supervised autonomy software in consumer vehicles from 2027.

Wayve’s AI Driver software is designed for Level 4-capable vehicles without the need for high-definition maps or location-specific engineering. The company’s system has run across more than 500 cities in Europe, North America, and Japan without city-specific fine-tuning. This deployment is supported by training data collected across over 70 countries and multiple vehicle platforms.

Read more at Yahoo Finance: Wayve raises $1.2bn Series D to scale robotaxi plans