Valeo, Natix to Open-Source World Model for Autonomous Driving
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Automotive technology company Valeo has partnered with Natix Network, a Solana-based decentralized physical infrastructure network (DePIN) provider, to develop an open-source artificial intelligence multi-camera model intended to enhance autonomous driving systems, the companies said Thursday.
The initiative, called the World Foundation Model (WFM), is designed to learn and predict real-world motion and adapt to traffic conditions. According to an announcement, the model aims to extend AI capabilities from text-based understanding to physical environments and support research in self-driving technologies. Valeo and Natix plan to publicly release model weights, datasets and training tools to allow developers to fine-tune performance. A Natix spokesperson said the first version of the WFM model is expected to be ready within the next couple of months.
WFM to accelerate advent of self-driving vehicles
Wayve has begun using WFMs in its vehicles, including a demonstration in which a car navigated parts of Las Vegas without prior training in the city, according to materials shared by CEO Alex Kendall on Friday.
Wayve self-driving vehicle using WFMs. Source: Alex Kendall
WFM sits within the broader DePIN segment, which combines blockchain technology with community-operated physical infrastructure. Participants contribute resources — such as computing power — to decentralized networks in exchange for cryptocurrency rewards.
“Our objective is to safely and responsibly advance mobility intelligence and the rollout of autonomous vehicles,” said Marc Vrecko, CEO of Valeo’s Brain Division. Natix co-founder and CEO Alireza Ghods described WFMs as a generational opportunity comparable to the emergence of large language models between 2017 and 2020, adding that teams building the first scalable world models will set the foundation for the next wave of “Physical AIs.”
Unlike perception-only systems, the multi-camera world model seeks to add predictive capabilities to support broader deployment of self-driving technology. Natix said that decentralizing and open-sourcing WFM could enable training and testing across more diverse real-world conditions prior to deployment. A company spokesperson said transparent frameworks can speed ecosystem development and that extensive testing is essential for safety.
World Foundation Models: the next big shift for physical AI. Source: Natix
Competitive landscape and scale of Valeo–Natix bet
One notable competitor is Alpamayo, a family of open-source vision-language-action models introduced by Nvidia. Alpamayo uses camera and sensor inputs to support reasoning-based autonomous decision-making.
Founded in 2020, Natix operates a decentralized multi-camera data network that, according to research firm Messari, includes hundreds of thousands of contributors and hundreds of millions of kilometers of recorded driving data.
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