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Self-Driving Tech Startup Waabi Raises $1B for Expansion
Toronto-Based Company Enters Robotaxi Market With Uber Technologies
Waabi Innovation Inc., a Canadianstartup that developsself-driving technology for trucks, has secured $1 billion in funding for its commercial expansion, including entering the robotaxi market with partnerUber Technologies Inc.
The Toronto-basedcompany closed a $750 millionround led by existing backers Khosla Ventures and G2 Venture Partners, according to founder and CEO Raquel Urtasun. The round was oversubscribed by “hundreds of millions of dollars and we actually closed the entire fundraise in a quarter,” she said in an interview. The company declined to share its latest valuation.
Other investors in Waabi's Series C round include Uber, the venture capital arms ofNvidia Corp. and Volvo AB,Porsche Automobil Holding SE as well as funds and accounts managed byBlackRock Inc.
Waabi also received an additional $250 million in “milestone-based future investment” from Uber to launch at least 25,000 robotaxis equipped with its softwareexclusively on the ride-hailing platform, it said in a statement Jan. 28. The company will announce more details on car manufacturing partners, launch markets and other parties that will manage and operate its car fleet at a later date, Urtasun said.
Numerous players in the autonomous vehicle industry, from technology startups to ride-hailing companies,havebeen working to build viable businesses around theemerging technology. By expanding into robotaxis, Waabi joins other software developers in teaming up with Uber orLyft Inc. to reachconsumers at scale.
Physical AI's moment is here and is leading the way
Excited to share we have raised $1B USD of new capital to accelerate the commercial deployment of autonomous trucks and meaningfully expand to robotaxis! Partnering with Uber to deploy 25,000 or more Waabi… — Lior Ron (@lioron)
Uber, for its part, has plantedstakes in the robotaxi raceby striking a wide range of partnerships, as opposed to making acquisitions or developing the technology in-house as it did previously.
Urtasun said Waabiis able totake a prudent approach to capital spendingas it plans to repurpose the same technology it uses to help trucks navigate highways and streets indifferent types of cars. LikeAlphabet Inc.’s Waymo —the U.S. leader in robotaxi services —Waabi’s vehicles will be equipped with multiple sensors to perceive its surroundings.
But Urtasun said Waabi’s technology is different in that it doesn’t require extensive mapping or need to have observed various scenarios for it to learn how to drive in new environments, meaning it should take less time to validate with a safety driver.
Waabi last yearinked adealwithVolvoto produce self-driving trucks, although it has pushed back a timeline for commercial tests of the big rigs without a safety driveron public roads, which it had targeted for some time last year. The company made a decision late last year to wait for a fully redundant hardware platformto be ready from Volvo before doing so, a spokesperson said.
