Wayve appoints former Waymo finance chief Elisa de Martel as CFO
Wayve has hired Elisa de Martel, formerly chief financial officer at Alphabet autonomous-vehicle company Waymo, as its CFO. The appointment comes as the self-driving startup prepares to deploy automated-driving technology in robotaxis and passenger vehicles.
Max Warburton, who had held the CFO post at Wayve since 2024, is moving into a strategic advisory role supporting the leadership team. De Martel will be based in Sunnyvale, California.
A finance leader for Wayve’s deployment phase
De Martel was Waymo’s CFO from 2022 until January 2026. During that period, Waymo began commercial operations in several cities and raised $5.6 billion in a Series C round led by its parent company, taking its valuation above $45 billion.
Her experience also includes serving as CFO at industrial-grade 3D-printing company Carbon and an 11-year period as manufacturing finance director at Apple. Wayve said her remit will cover financial strategy and planning, capital allocation, reporting, governance, treasury and tax.
She will also work with Wayve’s executive team on commercial arrangements, investor activity and strategic partnerships. The company is moving beyond development and testing towards early deployments, a stage at which funding discipline and partnership execution become central operational concerns.
Software designed for different vehicle platforms
Founded in 2017, Wayve is valued at about $8.5 billion and has raised $3.2 billion to date. Its technology uses an end-to-end neural network trained with data, rather than relying on high-definition maps, bespoke hardware or hand-coded driving rules.
The software supports two products: an “eyes on” assisted-driving system and an “eyes off” fully automated-driving system. Wayve says these systems can be used for robotaxis or consumer vehicles that take over driving in specified environments.
That hardware-agnostic approach has attracted automakers with existing hardware choices, including Nissan and Stellantis. Wayve has also drawn interest from Uber, which wants to use more capable self-driving technology for robotaxi deployment.
From public trials to automotive scale
Wayve has started public rides in London with a human safety operator onboard, and Tokyo is expected to follow. The company must now turn limited deployments into high-volume automotive supply. Its corporate position is framed by Wayve’s $8.5 billion employee share sale as an $8.5 billion employee share sale, while the company prepares for a more capital-intensive commercial phase.
For businesses assessing autonomous-driving suppliers, the appointment signals that technical progress, financial governance and automaker partnerships need to advance together as pilots move toward deployable products.