Autonomous Vehicle Startup Wayve Raises $200M In Microsoft-Backed Round

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The London-based firm will use the capital to scale and deploy its autonomous vehicle technology, which uses cameras instead of LIDAR to map out a vehicle’s environment. It brings Wayve’s total funding to $258m, with the startup closing a $20m Series A investment in November 2019 prior to a slew of seed investments. While Wayve did not provide an updated valuation, the funding is likely to make it the UK’s first tech unicorn of 2022 – a privately held company valued at $1bn or more. Wayve said it will use the latest funding to hire more AI scientists to develop its platform. Wayve says it’s developing a level 4+ prototype for passenger vehicles and delivery plans, which means the car is fully autonomous but the driving can still take the wheel if required.