Riding the Wayve with Holly Branson

Holly was keen to experience first-hand the work we are doing at Wayve and sit down with our Co-Founder and CEO Alex Kendall to talk about what inspired him to build Wayve. Holly was intrigued to find out that our vehicles learn to drive like she did years ago through seeing examples of good driving behaviours and gaining experience on the road. She couldn’t wait to get a glimpse into the future by taking a ride in a Wayve car.

Seeing is believing

Holly joined Alex and Theepa, one of our Safety Operators, for a drive around London. This seemingly surreal experience soon felt surprisingly much like any drive, with Wayve’s vehicle smoothly and safely navigating around narrow streets in morning traffic.

After the ride, we had an insightful conversation about the cultural impact of what we’re building at Wayve, both at the company and beyond. Holly was curious to get our perspective on the importance of purpose and building trust in AI.

As Alex said during the interview:

“Fundamentally, I think it’s about being very clear about the principles of what you’re building, why you’re doing it, and how you’re doing it. That’s how you build trust. Personifying the team and the journey, and sharing that message with the world. Then being very clear about the performance expectations, safety and value the product delivers. For us that’s the recipe for success.”

The future is bright

With the great support of investors like Virgin, we have been able to make great strides in the autonomy performance of our system and we are looking forward to commercially trialing this technology in next year. We’re excited to share this video to give you a peek of what it’s like to ride in an autonomous Wayve vehicle.