AI startup Wayve has expanded to Japan, ramping up the company’s international growth as it races to ink commercial deals for its autonomous vehicles technology.
The move will see Wayve open a testing and development center in Yokohama in a bid to tap into the fourth largest automotive market in the world as it looks to find buyers for its self-driving car software.
It comes after Wayve announced its first major commercial deal with Japanese carmaker Nissan earlier this month. Japan is also the home of major backer SoftBank, which invested the majority of Wayve’s record $1bn raise in 2024.
“Japan is a global leader in automotive innovation,” said Alex Kendall, founder and CEO, in a statement. “We’re here to collaborate with local partners to deliver advanced AI software that strengthens the global competitiveness of Japanese automakers and accelerates the rollout of safer and smarter mobility technology.”
Wayve will look to incorporate training data from Japan’s roads into its autonomous driving foundational model as it looks to secure further deals with Japanese carmakers, the company said.
After spending years focused on research and development for its self-driving software, Wayve has looked to ramp up commercial focus in recent months.
A few years ago the company shifted focus from developing fully autonomous vehicles to focus on autonomous driving features that can be built into cars, with Wayve’s leadership saying the pivot offered a quicker path to revenue.
In Wayve’s most recent company accounts, for 2023, it said it did not generate any material revenue.
The startup’s latest announcement is part of an expansion push in some of the world’s biggest carmaker markets in recent months. It also launched a research and development facility in Germany in March.
Wayve has over 400 employees across the US, UK, Canada, Germany and Japan. It has 20 people on the ground at the new Stuttgart testing site, with plans to double its headcount by the end of the year across all business functions.
The company has raised $1.3bn since launching in 2017, according to Dealroom, from backers including Nvidia, Microsoft and Balderton Capital.
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