Dive Brief:
- Self-driving startup Wayve named Elisa de Martel to its CFO seat as it seeks to build out its “AV 2.0” autonomous driving capabilities, according to a Wednesday press release.
- The London-based self-driving technology provider appointed de Martel to the top finance role as it moves to accelerate the commercialization of its Wayve AI Driver system, according to the release. Wayve CFO Max Warburton, who has served in the position since 2024, will move into a strategic advisory role with de Martel’s appointment, helping to support the executive leadership team, the company said. Wayve did not respond to a request for comment regarding de Martel’s effective start date.
- “I couldn’t be more excited about the experience and passion Elisa brings in autonomy and deep tech, and I look forward to partnering with her to scale the company as we launch the Wayve AI Driver in millions of vehicles across the automotive and mobility industry,” CEO and co-founder Alex Kendall said in the release.
Dive Insight:
de Martel is joining the self-driving startup after serving as CFO for Google-owned autonomous vehicle business Waymo — helping to grow the company from pre-revenue to operating in five U.S. cities, as well as overseeing its $5.6 billion Series C funding round throughout her three-year tenure, according to the Wednesday release.
Before Waymo, she served as CFO for Carbon, an industrial-grade 3D printing company, and her past experience also includes serving 11 years as manufacturing finance director for Apple. de Martel will be based in Wayve’s Sunnyvale, California headquarters, according to the company.
The CFO transition comes as the self-driving company turns its focus to scaling the deployment of its self-driving AI technologies, which include “AV 2.0,”— an approach that uses deep learning to provide an end-to-end autonomous driving system, according to a company webpage.
“I’ve spent my career at companies building transformative technology, and I am thrilled by the opportunity in front of Wayve right now,” de Martel said in a statement included in the release. “AV2.0 is an innovative, capital-efficient approach to autonomy, and I’m looking forward to scaling the AI Driver globally with our team and partners.”
The business will lean on de Martel’s financial expertise as it seeks to build out that platform and AI Driver, which is aimed at scaling autonomous driving across “vehicles, geographies and products without reliance on HD maps, hand-coded rules or custom hardware,” the company said in the Wednesday announcement.
In the role, de Martel will build on the firm financial foundation Warbuton is leaving behind. The former finance chief helped to drive “rapid momentum” at the company, inking strategic partnerships with companies such as Stellantis and Qualcomm and helping to finalize Wayve’s latest funding round at the top of the year.
Wayve in February raised $1.2 billion to build out its autonomous driving platform in Series D round led by financial investors — including SoftBank Vision Fund 2, Eclipse and Balderton, the company said in a press release at the time.
The funding also included a pledge from rideshare Uber to invest “additional milestone-based capital” to scale Wayve-powered robotaxi deployments globally, within a broader $1.5 billion range of capital secured to support its robotaxi commercial rollout. The round, which also included participation from Microsoft and Nissan, brought the startup’s valuation to $8.6 billion, according to the release.
The business will tap the funding as it vies for space in new markets with competitors in the self-driving space, including Waymo and Bolt. Wayve now offers public rides in partnership with Uber in London and plans to launch robotaxi rides in Tokyo by late 2026, according to company announcements.
Wayve is one of several AV companies targeting expansion in Europe and Tokyo: Waymo on Monday announced a partnership with taxi app GO and taxi company Nihon Kotsu for the commercial launch of an AV ridesharing service in Tokyo for 2027.
Meanwhile, Lucid Motors and Bolt, a European mobility company, on Thursday announced a plan to expand a fleet of 25,000 fully autonomous vehicles across major European cities, led by Bolt’s driving solutions software and using Lucid vehicles.
