Nvidia(US:NVDA) Huan Qiu Wang Zi Xun·2025-09-20 04:20Core Insights - Wayve, a UK-based autonomous driving startup, has signed a letter of intent with NVIDIA for a strategic investment of $500 million in its upcoming funding round [1][3] - The third-generation autonomous driving platform (Gen 3) will be built on NVIDIA's DRIVE AGX Thor computing architecture, utilizing Blackwell GPU for computational power and a safety-certified DriveOS operating system [3] - NVIDIA's involvement dates back to Wayve's Series C funding, and the new investment will enhance collaboration in hardware acceleration, model optimization, and safety validation [3] Investment and Financials - The $500 million investment is part of NVIDIA's £2 billion (approximately $2.7 billion) AI ecosystem investment plan in the UK, which also includes a £500 million equity investment in AI data center company Nscale [3] - Wayve has previously attracted attention from various investors, including a separate investment from ride-hailing giant Uber in 2024 [4] Product Development and Market Strategy - Wayve's Gen 3 platform aims to reduce reliance on high-definition maps by using end-to-end AI models to learn driving decisions directly from raw sensor data, enabling autonomous navigation in complex urban environments [3] - The production version of the Gen 3 platform is expected to be integrated into a luxury car brand model in Europe by 2026, with the first list of partner car manufacturers to be announced by the end of 2025 [4]