With the tremendous strides that companies have made in bringing various levels of self-driving capabilities to today's cars, forward-looking investors are turning to self-driving car businesses, leading them to consider Wayve stock.
Since its founding in 2017, the London-based company has made tremendous inroads in the field of autonomous driving. According to Crunchbase, Wayve's funding totals about $1.3 billion, and the company proclaims itself as "the first [company] to develop and test an end-to-end (e2e) AI autonomous driving system on public roads." Addressing the company's future, Wayve CEO Alex Kendall has stated that the company's "vision is to develop autonomous technology that not only becomes a reality in millions of vehicles but also earns people's trust by seamlessly integrating into their everyday lives to unlock extraordinary value."
Before trying to park Wayve stock in your portfolio, there are important things to take into account. Potential investors, for example, will want to consider how to buy shares of Wayve, when it might hold a potential initial public offering (IPO), and whether there are alternative investment opportunities.
Is it publicly traded?
Is Wayve publicly traded?
A privately held company, Wayve stock is not found on the New York Stock Exchange, Nasdaq stock exchange, or other exchanges.
In addition to the equity in the company that insiders own, there are a variety of other organizations that have investments in Wayve. The company, for example, completed a $1.05 billion Series C funding round in May 2024. Besides SoftBank Group (SFTB.Y 0.88%), Wayve received funding from semiconductor powerhouse Nvidia (NVDA 3.43%), a new investor, as well as Microsoft (MSFT 1.06%), which had also participated in a Series B funding round.
When will it IPO?
When will Wayve IPO?
Between the explosion in popularity of artificial intelligence (AI) stocks and the unique growth opportunities that IPO stocks represent, it's no wonder that many investors are keenly focused on the possibility of buying Wayve stock at its IPO.
However, investors who are interested in Wayve will have to wait since the company is not on the IPO calendar, and there's no indication that it plans to launch an IPO anytime soon.
IPO
How to invest?
How to buy Wayve stock?
Despite the growing interest in Wayve stock, most investors are unable to incorporate it into their portfolios because it's still privately held. Accredited investors, on the other hand, may have the ability to gain exposure to privately held companies like Wayve, thanks to platforms like Forge Global (FRGE -8.53%).
For people who aren't accredited investors but who still seek exposure to autonomous mobility companies, there's no need to despair since there are similar options to consider.
Tesla
At the vanguard of autonomous driving, Tesla (TSLA 0.15%) is often the focus of conversations regarding self-driving cars. Available on vehicles made after September 2014, Tesla's Autopilot provides cruise control assistance that matches the car to the speed of nearby traffic and steering assistance in marked lanes. Tesla's Full Self-Driving (FSD) provides a variety of autonomous features such as changing lanes, stopping at signs and traffic lights, as well as remotely moving the vehicle out of tight parking spaces.
To provide a superior autonomous driving solution, Tesla requires significant amounts of actual driving time with FSD employed upon which the software can learn or train. It seems that the company is getting this in spades. At the end of the first quarter 2024, Tesla reported that drivers of its vehicles have logged about 1.3 billion miles driving with FSD.
And it's not only Tesla vehicles where FSD may be available. On the 2024 first-quarter conference call, CEO Elon Musk said that the company is "in conversations with one major automaker regarding licensing FSD." This story is worth following since licensing the FSD software to automakers could ultimately be a new revenue source for Tesla.
Nvidia
The fact that Nvidia now has an equity stake in Wayve makes it a compelling choice for investors seeking autonomous driving stock exposure. Nvidia is also an AI powerhouse that recently announced that its DRIVE Thor, a computing platform used in automobiles designed for generative AI applications, is gaining traction in the industry.
BYD (OTC:BYDF.F), one of the largest electric vehicle (EV) companies worldwide, is incorporating DRIVE Thor into its future EVs and relying on Nvidia's products for its AI development and training. Other leading EV manufacturers such as Li Auto (LI -3.43%) and XPeng (XPEV 0.34%) have stated plans to build future EV models with DRIVE Thor.
In fiscal 2024, Nvidia booked $1.1 billion in revenue from its automotive business, and the company projects that will account for the greatest portion of its data center business in fiscal 2025.
Since the company has demonstrated enthusiasm for seeking growth through acquisitions, it wouldn't be surprising if Nvidia pursued future acquisitions to strengthen the company's AI position.
Qualcomm
Like Nvidia, Qualcomm (QCOM 1.28%) is another semiconductor stock closely tied to the AI industry, and it is making a concerted effort to advance the self-driving car industry. Accomplishing this through its Snapdragon Ride platform, Qualcomm characterizes this platform as "designed to enable rapid development of future-proof automated driving solutions."
While Qualcomm has supplied legacy automakers such as General Motors (GM 3.4%) and BMW (OTC:BMWYY) with its semiconductors, it announced in April 2024 a partnership with Momenta, a company focused on autonomous driving solutions to develop advanced smart driving solutions for a variety of vehicle types.
In the second quarter of 2024, Qualcomm reported revenue of $603 million from its automotive business, and management sees this driving significantly higher in the coming years as the pipeline for the company's Snapdragon Digital Chassis solution, a complete platform for vehicle connectivity and advanced driver assistance system (ADAS), was valued at about $45 billion as of mid-2024.
Here are the steps to take to invest in one of these alternatives:
Step 1: Open a brokerage account
The prospect of building personal wealth by investing in stocks is thrilling, but before you can be a shareholder you must have access to a brokerage account. Investors have numerous options from which they can choose, but novice investors may benefit the most from opening a brokerage account with Fidelity since it offers zero-commission online stock trades.
Step 2: Figure out your budget
As an owner of a shiny new brokerage account, your next goal is to decide how much you'd like to invest. Once you've established an emergency fund and accounted for monthly expenses, determine whether you'd like to make a single purchase of stock or build a position slowly over time.
Step 3: Do your research
With ample resources at their disposal, investors have unparalleled opportunities to investigate potential stock picks. Researching any potential stock investment is a key factor in whether it will be a success or failure.
Step 4: Place an order
At last, you're ready to make your stock purchase. But first, you must make some final choices. After deciding how many shares you'd like to purchase, you'll have to identify what type of order you want to make: a market order or a limit order. With these choices made, it's time to make your purchase and pat yourself on the back for taking a great stride in building your personal wealth.
Artificial Intelligence
Profitability
Is Wayve profitable?
Because it's a privately held company, Wayve isn't required to submit regulatory filings like its publicly traded peers. As a result, it's unclear whether the company is generating revenue, let alone making a profit.
But it's quite possible that Wayve will be earning revenue before long. According to the company, the completion of the recent Series C funding round will help the company launch its first product with L2+ ADAS. Nvidia characterizes Level 2 (L2) automated driving "as systems that provide steering and brake/acceleration support, as well as lane centering and adaptive cruise control," while L2+ "includes intelligent cockpit services, such as driver monitoring, AI copilot technology using voice and gesture recognition, and advanced in-cabin visualization of the vehicle's perception."
Should I invest?
Should I invest in Wayve?
For the majority of investors, wondering if they should or shouldn't invest in Wayve is moot since the company hasn't held an IPO. Should the company proceed with an IPO, it will have to submit regulatory filings, at which point investors will have much better insight into the company's financials, enabling them to make a more informed decision about whether the stock is right for them.
Accredited investors, however, may be able to gain exposure to Wayve right now, although they should only consider a position if they're comfortable with a more speculative investment.
ETF options
ETFs with exposure to Wayve
Because Wayve is a privately held company, investors can't gain exposure to the stock through an exchange-traded fund (ETF). Fortunately, there are several ETFs that provide exposure to stocks closely related to Wayve.
- iShares Self-Driving EV and Tech ETF (IDRV 0.8%): In addition to self-driving car stocks, the 56 holdings in the iShares Self-Driving EV and Tech ETF include battery stocks and stocks related to EVs in general. The ETF may also rev the heartbeats of income investors since the fund makes distributions on a semi-annual basis and has a yield of about 2.5% to help cover the expense ratio of 0.47%.
- Global X Autonomous & Electric Vehicles ETF (DRIV 2.27%): For investors interested in AI and tech industry leaders in general, the Global X Autonomous & Electric Vehicles ETF is a great option. Representing 6.5% of the portfolio, Nvidia is the largest holding in the ETF, while Qualcomm is the second-largest position. Alphabet (GOOGL 2.65%), Apple (AAPL 0.67%), and Microsoft round out the ETF's top five of the ETF's 75 holdings. The Global X Autonomous & Electric Vehicles ETF has $547 million in net assets and a 0.68% total expense ratio.
- ARK Autonomous Technology & Robotics ETF (ARKQ 1.81%): While some investors may want concentrated exposure to self-driving car stocks, others may want more measured exposure to the burgeoning industry. For them, the ARK Autonomous Technology & Robotics ETF is a smart choice. While autonomous mobility represents about 44% of the the Cathie Wood-backed ETF, there are a variety of other industries represented by the holdings: battery technologies, neural networks, and smart devices, to name a few. With a 12.4% weighting, Tesla is the fund's largest holding. The ETF has $1.05 billion in assets under management, and it has an expense ratio of 0.75%.
Related investing topics
The bottom line on Wayve
Fully autonomous vehicles may not appear in traffic now, but Wayve is making progress toward making this stuff of the future a reality sooner rather than later.
Wayve is still a privately held company, though, and there's no sign of an IPO coming down the road, so investors will have to find alternative investment opportunities. They have options to consider, such as the indirect exposure afforded by Nvidia to another autonomous driving pioneer, Tesla, to semiconductor leader Qualcomm, as well as various ETFs that focus on autonomous mobility companies.
FAQ
Investing in Wayve: FAQ
How does Wayve work?
Wayve is developing autonomous vehicles that are powered by leading AI semiconductors produced by Nvidia.
Is Wayve a publicly traded company?
As of mid-2024, Wayve was not a publicly traded company.
Who are the founders of Wayve?
Wayve's CEO, Alex Kendall, co-founded the company in 2017.
Can I buy Wayve stock?
Because Wayve hasn't held an IPO, it isn't available to most investors. Accredited investors, however, may be able to pick up shares on platforms like Forge Global.
