Waymo crossed 200,000 paid robotaxi rides per week in mid-2025, finally giving this category a real revenue line. The companies below split between robotaxi, trucking, and platform plays. Waymo and Aurora are the two scaled US operators; Wayve raised a $1.05B Series C to push end-to-end driving with foundation models in Europe and Japan. Pony.ai and WeRide listed publicly and are pushing China and the Middle East. On freight, Kodiak AI and PlusAI focus on hub-to-hub trucking, while Nuro pivoted from delivery pods to licensing its driver. Polymath Robotics and Encord support the long tail with off-highway autonomy and the multimodal data layer for training.
CATEGORY
Best Autonomous Vehicles AI Tools
25 tools compared · 2026
Robotaxi, trucking, and self-driving foundation model startups
25 autonomous vehicles startups tracked, with the largest concentration in US. Total tracked funding: $48.1B.
Tracked
25
Total Raised
$48.1B
Countries
9
Active Deals
0
1 
Waabi Toronto, CA $1.3B 2 
Einride Stockholm, SE $913M 3 
Aurora Pittsburgh, US $620M 4 
Pony.ai Fremont, US $1.2B 5 
WeRide Guangzhou, CN $1.1B 6 
Nuro Mountain View, US $2.3B 7 
Overland AI Seattle, US $142M 8 
Turing Tokyo, JP $162M 9 
Waymo Mountain View, US $31B 10 
Wayve London, GB $2.3B 11 
Vatn Systems — $76.5M 12 
Applied Intuition Mountain View, United States $1.2B
Funding by year — Autonomous Vehicles
2018 → 2026Market overview
Key trends 2026
- End-to-end models replace stacks. Wayve and Tesla-style foundation drivers reduce hand-coded perception and planning modules.
- Trucking pulls ahead of cars in revenue. Kodiak AI and PlusAI run paid hub-to-hub freight while robotaxis scale geofences.
- Licensing beats fleet ownership. Nuro now licenses its driver; Wayve sells stack to OEMs rather than running cars.
Benchmarks vs global
Waymo paid rides per week
200,000+
~10,000 in early 2024 ↑
Wayve Series C valuation
$2B+
~$200M Series B ↑
US AV-related disengagement reports filed (CA DMV 2024)
60+ permit holders
50 in 2022 ↑
Top countries
By startup countStage breakdown
Latest round typeTop investors backing Autonomous Vehicles
See all →NVIDIA
5 deals
TR
T. Rowe Price
4 deals
5Y Capital
3 deals
SV
SoftBank Vision Fund 2
3 deals
EQT Ventures
3 deals
Khosla Ventures
3 deals
ClearVue Partners
2 deals
Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan
2 deals
The Carlyle Group
2 deals
Greylock Partners
2 deals
U
Uber
2 deals
FM
Fidelity Management & Research Company
2 deals
FAQ
Frequently asked
Waymo vs Tesla FSD — which is actually further along?
Waymo runs commercial driverless service in five US cities with no human in the seat; Tesla FSD remains driver-supervised in 2026. Tesla has more vehicles and miles, but Waymo has the only at-scale, fare-collecting, no-driver service. Different products, different risk profiles.
Is Wayve's end-to-end approach winning over the modular stack?
It's winning the research debate. Wayve's $1.05B Series C and partnerships with Nissan and Uber show OEMs are betting on learned driving. But Waymo's modular stack is what actually carries paying riders today, so deployments will stay mixed for years.
Where do AV startups still raise venture money?
Trucking (Kodiak AI, PlusAI), data infrastructure for AVs (Encord), and off-highway autonomy (Polymath, mining and agriculture). Robotaxi-only pitches now mostly get strategic dollars from OEMs, not venture rounds.
Recent rounds in Autonomous Vehicles
All rounds →| Date | Startup | Round | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 2026 | Motive | Other | $1.3B |
| Aug 2026 | Gatik | Series D | $200M |
| Aug 2026 | Moove | Series C | $250M |
| Jul 2026 | The Boring Company | Other | $4B |
| Apr 2026 | Wayve | Series D Extension | $60M |
| Feb 2026 | Einride | Pipe | $113M |
| Feb 2026 | Wayve | Series D | $1.2B |
| Feb 2026 | Overland AI | Series B | $100M |