Ocado Invests £10 Million In Driverless Delivery Startup
On Wednesday, online groceries delivery company Ocado announced that it would invest £10 million into autonomous delivery startup Wayve. The move helps to pave the way for driverless groceries deliveries in “complex urban environments.”
Wayve claims a “world first” in driving a vehicle autonomously with only its AI and a SatNav, possessing the ability to adapt to new, unstructured, and highly complex urban environments. Wayve vehicles can apparently operate without the need for pre-programming, human-designed rules, or high definition mapping.
To date, the startup has raised over $58 million, backed by Balderton Capital, Eclipse Ventures, and prominent leaders in tech such as Rosemary Leith, Yann LeCun, and Sir Richard Branson.
Wayve is headquartered in London, with its fleet of vehicles testing in cities across the UK. Its collaboration with Ocado includes an autonomous delivery trial that will see Wayve’s technology fitted onto a selection of Ocado’s delivery vehicles. The trial will take place on urban delivery month and will last for 12 months.
The collaboration marks Ocado’s second self-driving partnership this year. In April, the groceries company took a £10 million stake in another UK-based company, Oxbotica, to build self-driving vehicles for itself and others who use its platform.
