With a self-storage warehouse on one side, and a fast-food shop on the other, Wayve's north London facility doesn't look like the headquarters of a company which won a billion-dollar investment from Softbank, Microsoft and Nvidia: The largest-ever capital raise by a European artificial intelligence firm. The plain brick building lies a 10-minute walk north of Kings Cross train station in a rapidly regenerating area. It is central enough for Wayve's 32-year-old founder Alex Kendall to be driven to Downing Street in 25 minutes by one of his autonomous cars, but distant enough for the Primrose Sandwich Bar across the road still to be able to serve a cheap mug of tea. The front doors are permanently shut. Signs direct you to the side, where between the slats of a heavy steel fence you can peer into a yard housing a small fleet of subtly modified, monochrome Jaguar I-Paces and Ford Mustang Mach-Es.