Self-governing startup Wayve uses Microsoft as a “supercomputer muscle”

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LONDON – British startup Wayve said Wednesday it would use a supercomputer infrastructure designed for the company by its investor Microsoft to process vast amounts of data while developing machine-learning models for self-driving cars.

Wayve’s technology relies on machine learning using camera sensors mounted on the outside of the vehicle, where the system learns from traffic patterns and the behavior of other drivers, instead of the conventional method relying on detailed digital maps and coding to tell the vehicles how to work.

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“Microsoft is providing muscle for supercomputers,” Wayve CEO Alex Kendall told Reuters. “What we are looking to do is beyond what is possible for cloud shopping today.”

Kendall said Microsoft will be able to process terabytes of data – 1 trillion bytes, or the equivalent of about an hour of consumer video – that Wayve cars generate every minute.

This will help the startup as it expands its self-driving technology to test vehicles to deliver the last mile with UK online food technology company Ocado and supermarket chain Asda.

These food delivery tests will begin this year with an on-board safety operator.

“We see this as a proposal for a merchant navy,” he said. “This is how we think autonomy will come on the market first.

Earlier this year, Microsoft participated in the $ 200 million funding round for the London-based Series B startup (Report by Nick Kerry; Edited by Ian Harvey)