Nvidia invests in 'trillion-dollar' robotaxi AI company that Nissan says beats Tesla FSD

After its massive $100 billion investment in OpenAI that goes after Google's Gemini and Elon Musk's Grok, Nvidia is gunning for the nascent robotaxi industry as well.

A new $500 million investment in what Nvidia's Jensen Huang called "the next trillion-dollar company" when he rode in an autonomous vehicle powered by its software aims to encroach on Tesla's Robotaxi service turf. The British firm Wayve had already received $1 billion strong round of investment by Nvidia, Uber, and SoftBank, and now Huang wants to expand his share by another half a billion.

Wayve has developed a turnkey autonomous driving solution that can be used by any vehicle as its AI-powered system very much resembles Tesla's FSD as an end-to-end neural network that learns by examining massive amounts of camera vision data, instead of relying on rigid algorithms and HD maps.

Huang was reportedly so impressed with what Wayve has done with Nvidia's tailored self-driving AI hardware that he congratulated the team with the "next trillion-dollar company, you guys" praise after a ride around downtown London.

The autonomous driving startup has already scored a big customer in Nissan, which announced the launch of its ProPilot robotaxi system that is powered by Wayve's AI Driver software. The ProPilot driver-assist solution was installed on a number of Ariya electric SUVs and demonstrated Level 4 autonomous driving capabilities on the busy streets of Tokyo.

Wayve’s embodied AI has the ability to grasp its surroundings and anticipate what will happen next and how its own actions will affect the environment, allowing it to drive safely in harmony with its surroundings like a skilled human driver. Furthermore, its high-speed processing capabilities allow it to respond immediately to sudden changes in conditions, ensuring it acts safely in real time. Additionally, Wayve’s AI is inspired by how people perceive and learn from their surroundings, based on insights into human cognition and behavioral processes. It understands how entire driving scenes evolve, rather than just reacting to single objects. By learning the flow of changes in its environment, it can adapt to a wide variety of real-world scenarios and make accurate decisions even in complex situations, like an experienced and attentive human.

Nissan aims to equip select local vehicles with Wayve's AI Driver running on dedicated Nvidia Drive Thor hardware starting in 2027. The Japanese automaker says that its new self-driving system is "smarter than Tesla's FSD" right now but will need marketing and regulatory polish by then.

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