Jakarta, INTI - Nvidia and UK’s National Wealth Fund invest in the British self-driving vehicle software startup Oxa, in an effort to support the technology sector in the United Kingdom.
Oxa has developed software for self-driving industrial vehicles, and the company said that it had raised $103 million, or £77 million, from investors.
The fund includes a $50 million investment from the UK’s National Wealth Fund, and backing from NVentures, Nvidia’s venture capital arm.
Oxa wants to focus on commercializing the software, in addition to the company’s AI and robotics tech and expansion plans globally. The software can be used for autonomous vehicles to handle driving tasks in environments such as ports, airports, and logistics facilities.
Investment and Support for Oxa Will Be Good for the UK’s Tech Sector
CO-Founder and Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of Oxa, Paul Newman, told BBC Radio 4’s Today that the investment was “great for the UK”.
He also said that Oxa had exported passenger-carrying vehicle software to the US, used to transport 20,000 people. However, the company thought that the market was too complicated due to uncertain regulations on road autonomy for passenger cars.
“We think the economics of that are very challenging for us,” said Newman. “The economics of having a business in autonomy that works off-highway is cracking.”
He then added that Oxa was “universal autonomy. So our vehicles are generalists, and they can drive in all kinds of places.”
Conclusion
Nvidia’s NVenture and the UK’s National Wealth Fund invested in autonomous vehicle software company, Oxa. Oxa raised a $103 million fund, and will focus on commercializing their software for logistics driving tasks, as well as planning global expansion.
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