Microsoft & SoftBank To Invest $2B In Wayve, Amid Waymo & Tesla Global Growth

As the popularity of autonomous mobility grows, self-driving vehicle manufacturers and software companies the world over are catching the eye of technology companies.
 
As per a report, artificial intelligence (AI) sector leaders Microsoft and SoftBank are looking to invest up to $2 billion in British self-driving technology company Wayve, through a funding round raise that would take its valuation to about $8 billion, as per a source familiar with the matter.
 
The move follows interest from GPU maker NVIDIA, which signed a letter of intent in September aiming to invest up to $500 million in the company.
 
The company had already raised $1 billion in a funding round last year, which was led by SoftBank and received participation from NVIDIA, while ride-hailing platform Uber also made an investment of an undisclosed amount.  
 
Wayve, Microsoft, and SoftBank did not provide a comment on the report on new investments.
 
The self-driving company operates in Britain and the U.S. and is testing its vehicles in Germany and Japan.
 
Speaking of Japan, Wayve’s rival Waymo, which has been expanding rapidly in the U.S., has also been testing out its self-driving vehicles in the country since April.
 
Recently, the firm welcomed Japan’s Transport Minister Hiromasa Nakano and other officials to experience a fully autonomous ride in San Francisco, as well as tour the company’s operations center.
 
“I am impressed by how smoothly Waymo’s technology navigated San Francisco’s streets, pedestrians, and cyclists,” said Minister Hiromasa Nakano, head of Japan’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism. “I look forward to seeing Waymo bring this same capability and service to Tokyo, as the company takes a thoughtful and deliberate approach to adapting to our city’s unique streets.”
 
A few days after the visit, software engineer and self-described “tech prankster” Riley Walz published a post on X describing the world’s first-ever DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) attack on Waymo—one that came in an unconventional but humorous manner.
 
What he orchestrated was a coordinated prank where 50 driverless Waymo vehicles converged on a single dead-end street, thanks to participants ordering Waymos at the same time from the same location.
 
“The plan? At dusk, 50 people went to San Francisco's longest dead-end street and all ordered a Waymo at the same time,” said Walz, adding, “The world's first: WAYMO DDOS”
 
“We didn't actually get in the cars,” clarified Walz about the prank that occurred in July 2025. “They left after about 10 min [minutes] and charged a $5 no show fee. Waymo handled this well. I assume this isn't much different than if a big concert had just ended. Eventually, they disabled all rides within a 2 block vicinity until the morning.”


Meanwhile, robotaxi rival and electric vehicle (EV) automaker Tesla saw its stocks surge more than 5% as the company began production ramp-up in the fourth quarter at its Shanghai gigafactory, which is its largest manufacturing hub globally.
 
Tesla has seen a 2.8% rise in sales in September, which marked its second-highest monthly total tally of vehicles sold at 71,525, following March’s 74,127 sales.
 
While the EV market has been seeing unprecedented growth—surging almost 30%—this development comes as the company has seen a sharp decline in the sales of its electric pickup Cybertruck, plunging 62.6% in a single quarter as compared to the previous year.
 
The company planned for a production capacity of over 250,000 units per year, but has been selling around 20,000 units per year.
 
According to reports, a lot of these unsold Cybertrucks are being picked up by Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s other private companies, including SpaceX and xAI, where hundreds of Tesla Cybertrucks have been spotted, with many of them being delivered over the past weekend.
 
Tesla also recently slashed the prices of its Model 3 and Model Y vehicles, which failed to impress investors and the public alike.
 
Do you think Tesla could recapture the top spot in the electric vehicles sector and challenge rivals Wayve and Waymo in the robotaxi arena?
 
Let us know in the comments below!