AI Special 4#: Alex Kendall, Co-Founder and CEO of Wayve: AI Automobiles and the Future of Driving

The Tech Leaders Podcast

Write up

Self-driving cars: coming soon to a road near you!
That’s right, on the fourth instalment of our AI series, Gareth and Kerensa are joined by a pioneer in the autonomous driving space, Co-Founder and CEO of Wayve, Alex Kendall, to discuss all things AI automation.
After securing a scholarship from Cambridge University, leaving behind his home in New Zealand to travel to Europe for the first time, Alex’s drive (excuse the pun) to revolutionise the transportation game saw him building drones in Silicon Valley before ultimately co-founding his British-born start-up, Wayve.
This episode explores Wayve’s ground-breaking venture of using AI to create fully autonomous vehicles; from partnering with Ocado and Asda for robotic grocery deliveries, to replacing carparks with eco-friendly ‘greenparks’. “The Age of Autonomy is on its way”, so let’s all ride the ‘Wayve’ and embrace it!

Time stamps

• What excites Alex most about the AI revolution? (01:56)
• The early days of AI (07:56)
• The University of Cambridge as a hub for young entrepreneurs (09:17)
• Designing drones in Silicon Valley (13:25)
• What is autonomous driving? (16:06)
• Partnering with Ocado and Asda (19:41)
• Inside Wayve’s AI (22:36)
• Are human drivers going to be replaced? (26:36)
• The UK’s standing in the AI rankings (34:01)
• Alex’s AI fears (45:26)
• Advice to his 21-year-old self (48:00)
• What’s next for Wayve? (51:11)