An Oxbotica driverless car
BP has taken a stake in self-driving vehicle start-up Oxbotica as part of a $47m (£34.5m) funding round.
The oil and gas major invested alongside Chinese internet giant Tencent, London-listed IP Group and British fund BGF.
Oxbotica develops software for autonomous vehicles, specialising in industrial vehicles. It was founded by Oxford University’s Paul Newman, part of a team at the Oxford Robotics Institute that developed the first autonomous test car for British roads.
The start-up has experimented with robot taxis. In 2018, it announced it was working with Addison Lee on a robotaxi project for London, although the taxi firm quit the partnership in March last year after it was acquired by new investors.