Autonomous vehicle firm Oxbotica raises £14m

The Oxford-based autonomous vehicle software developer has secured funding from investors IP Group, Parkwalk Advisors and AXA XL, to grow the company’s international presence.

Oxbotica technology enables machines – primarily cars – to navigate, understand and act in their specific environments without relying on external infrastructure, such as GPS. The software uses computer vision, Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence to enable vehicles to operate autonomously in any environment.

The software company has 2 products. The first is its autonomous control system, Selenium, which enables vehicles to sense their environment. The second, Caesium, Oxbotica’s cloud-based fleet management system, can schedule and co-ordinate fleets of autonomous vehicles. These products are domain-agnostic, which means they can be easily adapted to work with clients’ existing technologies and interfaces.

The £14m investment will be used to accelerate Oxbotica’s sustained growth. The company’s customer-base includes sectors such as aerospace, automotive, construction, logistics and mining. Its software has been deployed across multiple projects where the future application of autonomy is being trialled, such as with Ocado and at Heathrow Airport.

Oxbotica was founded in 2014 by Oxford University professors Paul Newman and Ingmar Posner as a spin-out from the internationally renowned Oxford Robotics Institute.

Graeme Smith, CEO of Oxbotica, said: “We are on a mission to bring autonomous software to the world’s biggest markets. We have already seen extraordinary demand from a range of sectors and markets, with the successful deployment of our technology across a strong customer base over the previous 4 years.

“This injection of funds comes as we move the business into its next growth phase, enabling us to deliver our ambitious plans to scale our capabilities and international presence. To help us achieve this, we are very pleased to welcome our investors to the company and Jamie Vollbracht from IP Group on to our board.”

Jamie Vollbracht, Cleantech partner at investor IP Group, said: “IP Group is extremely excited about Oxbotica; the company’s highly differentiated approach unlocks a wealth of opportunities. Impressively, by winning substantial contracts with major customers, Oxbotica has been able to fund activities to date without the need for investment. IP Group is therefore delighted to have been selected by Oxbotica as its investment partner as it looks to capitalise on the next phase of growth.”