Not even potholes will hold up self-driving cars, UK firm predicts

“We’ve taken it throughout Wales, Scotland, rural parts of England and the complexities of driving it through central London”, Alex Kendall told Today, on BBC Radio 4.

Asked if cars equipped with its tech would have a problem with hazards such as potholes he replied “not at all”.

“The AI has the intelligence to drive on roads, the same ones as you and I, just drive within the environment that we have today,” he said.

Wayve was founded in 2017, developing AI in vehicles which learns from the environment by processing data from sensors, rather than relying on pre-mapped routes.

A rare example of a British tech company which is among the market leaders in its field, Wayve nonetheless faces strong competition from rivals including Waymo.

Waymo – owned by Google’s parent firm, Alphabet – says it hopes to launch self-driving cars in the UK in September.

Another US firm, Lyft, is also due to launch in the UK in partnership with Chinese firm Baidu.

Kendall, the co-founder and chief executive of Wayve said training an AI to drive in London was a “different driving experience than the grid-like streets and wide boulevards you get in the United States”, where they have been on the roads on a trial basis for some time.

China has also been allowing autonomous vehicles in some cities for a number of years.

Kendall said eventually everywhere would follow suit, predicting”all cars will be autonomous in the future”.