How End-to-End Learning Created Autonomous Driving 2.0: Wayve CEO Alex Kendall

Alex Kendall founded Wayve in 2017 with a contrarian vision: replace the hand-engineered autonomous vehicle stack with end-to-end deep learning. While AV 1.0 companies relied on HD maps, LiDAR retrofits, and city-by-city deployments, Wayve built a generalization-first approach that can adapt to new vehicles and cities in weeks. Alex explains how world models enable reasoning in complex scenarios, why partnering with automotive OEMs creates a path to scale beyond robo-taxis, and how language integration opens up new product possibilities. From driving in 500 cities to deploying with manufacturers like Nissan, Wayve demonstrates how the same AI breakthroughs powering LLMs are transforming the physical economy.
Hosted by: Pat Grady and Sonya Huang