One of Wayve’s self-driving cars taking a drive around London
(Picture: Wayve )Wayve, a London-based startup working on autonomous vehicles, said it has developed AI technology that can enable any electric vehicle to drive autonomously in any city.
The company said its AI system demonstrated it could drive two different vehicles, a passenger car and a van, in a recent test, which it called “an industry first”.
It did this by relying on cameras mounted on top of a car, rather than the array of inbuilt cameras and sensors that is more common currently among aspiring self-driving cars. Wayve says the cameras can be easily installed on different kinds of vehicles.
This breakthrough, should it prove itself in further road testing, means Londoners could start seeing many more driverless cars on the city’s roads in the near future, and even benefit from commercial applications, like self-driving delivery vehicles that could help lower the cost of products amid soaring inflation.
“This is an industry-first achievement that shows we’re developing vehicle-agnostic autonomous-vehicle technology that can support the different-use cases for this technology,” said Alex Kendall, Wayve’s CEO.
Wayve’s technology promises to do for autonomous cars what Windows did for personal computers: provide an operating system that functions the same, irrespective of the hardware, eliminating the need to develop custom software every time.
So far, companies working on autonomous driving have largely focused on developing systems that are tailor-made for a specific car model, and often rely on precise maps, an array of cameras and sensors, and advanced positioning capabilities to find their way around a city.
But self-driving capabilities in passenger cars have yet to deliver a truly driverless experience. Drivers are usually required to be attentive and sometimes to keep their hands on the wheel, ready to respond in case of emergencies, even as self-driving tech continues to improve.
Tesla’s Autopilot, for example, allows drivers to summon their cars to wherever they are. Chinese company and top Tesla rival Xpeng, meanwhile, relies on Lidar, among other sensors, which is also the same tech used on the iPhone 14’s new cameras. Cars from both makers, however, have not been cleared for full-self driving in any country.
For now, commercial uses for autonomous vehicles appear to be the most likely next step for the technology. In the UK, grocery and retail chains like Wilko, Co-op, and Ocado have invested or initiated partnerships with autonomous vehicle startups, focusing on last-mile delivery, which is the final step of the delivery process, when goods are moved from a hub to their final destination, like someone’s home.
For its part, Wayve announced partnerships with Asda and Ocado Group last year and plans to begin commercial trials this year.
But barriers to self-driving cars hitting the road are high, with opposition from consumers themselves likely to prove a challenge.
A self-driving Uber test vehicle made the headlines when it killed a pedestrian in Phoenix, Arizona, in 2018, even though it had a back-up driver inside, and sparked renewed debate on the safety of self-driving cars, especially in dense, big cities. A 2021 survey by the American Automobile Association showed that only 14 per cent of respondents trusted a vehicle to drive itself safely.
On the other hand, UK regulators have started to gradually embrace the technology. Since last year, hands-free driving using automated lane-keeping tech has been allowed for drivers of certain vehicles at low speeds on motorways.
“To realise the full potential of self-driving technology, and see the UK lead in this global tech sector, it is essential that legislation is put in place to keep pace with our technology,” said Kendall.
Wayve has certainly got the means to help lead the UK’s race to driverless cars, after receiving the backing of business giants Microsoft, Virgin, and Ocado, together with $200 million in investment earlier this year.
