• Wayve, a UK-based self-driving technology company, has raised GBP 10 million (USD 13.6 million) in funding from online grocer Ocado. This brings the company’s total funds raised to USD 60 million.

• In conjunction with the funding, the companies also announced a partnership to develop an autonomous grocery delivery service that can cope with the tough traffic. For this purpose, Wayve will retrofit its self-driving technology into Ocado’s delivery vans for a year-long autonomous grocery delivery trial in London. Ocado plans to expand the partnership globally in the future.

• Ocado will provide the company with the required autonomous delivery-related data as well, allowing Wayve to train data and validate its technology further.

<ul><li> Analyst QuickTake: The investment illustrates the increasing interest of retailers in autonomous last-mile delivery methods. In fact, Ocado itself previously invested in British autonomous vehicle software developer Oxbotica in April this year. Other such investments include British high-street retail chain Wilko backing UK-based autonomous delivery vehicle (ADV) manufacturer StreetDrone ( September 2021 ) and Walmart’s investments in DroneUp, a Virginia-based drone solutions provider ( June 2021 ), and in General Motors’ self-driving car unit Cruise ( April 2021 ). On Wayve’s side, this is the second autonomous delivery partnership the company has entered into, following the first announced last month with supermarket Asda for trials in London.</ul>