Not even potholes will hold up self-driving cars, UK firm predicts

British self-driving startup Wayve has said its confident its technology will allow autonomous vehicles to "really drive anywhere", including on the UK's sometimes pothole-blighted roads.

The firm has raised an additional $1.5bn (£1.1bn) from investors, including Microsoft and chip giant Nvidia - one of the largest ever funding rounds for a British company.

It comes as Wayve prepares to launch robotaxis in London later this year as part of a partnership Uber.

Its boss said he was confident autonomous vehicles would soon be one the roads in many other locations too.

"We've taken it throughout Wales, Scotland, rural parts of England and the complexities of driving it through central London", Alex Kendall told Today, on BBC Radio 4.

Asked if cars equipped with its tech would have a problem with hazards such as potholes he replied "not at all".

"The AI has the intelligence to drive on roads, the same ones as you and I, just drive within the environment that we have today," he said.

Wayve was founded in 2017, developing AI in vehicles which learns from the environment by processing data from sensors, rather than relying on pre-mapped routes.

A rare example of a British tech company which is among the market leaders in its field, Wayve nonetheless faces strong competition from rivals including Waymo.

Waymo - owned by Google's parent firm, Alphabet - says it hopes to launch self-driving cars in the UK in September.

Another US firm, Lyft, is also due to launch in the UK in partnership with Chinese firm Baidu.

Kendall, the co-founder and chief executive of Wayve said training an AI to drive in London was a "different driving experience than the grid-like streets and wide boulevards you get in the United States", where they have been on the roads on a trial basis for some time.

China has also been allowing autonomous vehicles in some cities for a number of years.

Kendall said eventually everywhere would follow suit, predicting "all cars will be autonomous in the future".

The new investment values the London-based business at around $8.6 bn (£6.4bn).

Rachel Harris, Supervising Associate at Simmons & Simmons said that showed "investors believe autonomous driving technology is reaching commercial maturity".

She added there were still potential roadblocks ahead.

"The critical question is whether regulation can keep pace," she said.

But she suggested if they could be overcome "the UK is well positioned to be not just a centre of autonomous vehicle innovation, but a global leader in regulation".

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