Former Waymo CFO Elisa de Martel joins Wayve
De Martel will lead finance at the self-driving startup as it moves towards limited deployment of its automated-driving technology.
Elisa de Martel, who left Alphabet-owned Waymo in January, has been appointed chief financial officer of self-driving startup Wayve. She will be based in Sunnyvale, California.
Wayve’s outgoing CFO, Max Warburton, is moving to a strategic advisory role supporting the company’s leadership team. De Martel will oversee financial strategy and planning, capital allocation, reporting, governance, treasury and tax, while supporting commercial, investor and strategic partnership deals.
The appointment comes as Wayve shifts from development and testing towards limited deployment of its automated-driving technology in robotaxis and passenger vehicles. The company has launched public rides in London with a human safety operator on board, and Tokyo is expected to follow.
Founded in 2017, Wayve is valued at about US$8.5 billion and says it has raised US$3.2 billion. Its software uses an end-to-end neural network designed to operate without high-definition maps, custom hardware or hand-coded driving rules.
De Martel was Waymo’s CFO from 2022 to January 2026, following senior finance roles at Carbon and Apple. Wayve has partnerships with Nissan and Stellantis and has attracted interest from Uber as it seeks to advance its technology beyond early-stage deployment.
