- Waabi, an autonomous trucking startup, has raised $200 million through a Series B funding round that was oversubscribed by investors Uber and Khosla Ventures.
- Nvidia has become a new investor. Porsche and Volvo’s venture capital arm have also joined the deal.
- The Toronto-based firm expects to launch driverless trucks by 2025 and eventually deploy its generative AI in humanoids and warehouse robots.
Waabi, an autonomous trucking startup, announced on Tuesday that it had raised $200 million through a Series B funding round that was oversubscribed and led by existing investors Uber Ventures and Khosla Ventures. Waabi’s most recent funding round includes Nvidia as a new investor, Porsche, and the venture capital arm for Volvo.
Many companies are working on self driving vehicles. However, Waabi, based in Toronto, believes that too many developers rely upon people to consider all the possible scenarios. They use large fleets of vehicles to test out scenarios. Waabi created a single AI that can reason like humans and solve problems that human minds could not imagine. Waabi World is a closed-loop simulation that automatically generates the scenarios that a self-driving car might encounter in real life. This allows for testing issues without having to waste resources and money on models which need to be driven millions of miles.
Raquel Urtasun, Waabi’s founder and CEO, said: “A system such as this is able to generalize and handle unknown situations, it is more efficient in training, and its safety has been mathematically validated and confirmed.”
In September, Waabi Driver’s AI-powered software, sensors, and other tools began working with Uber Freight’s logistics system in the U.S. The 10-year partnership started in Dallas and Houston and will expand to other Texas locations.
The trucking industry is a vital part of the U.S. economy, accounting for over 70% of all freight transported. However, it is plagued by driver shortages and safety concerns, as well as supply chain challenges. Even though pandemic-related issues have subsided, supply chain efficiency is still far from optimal. Trucking is one market that has significant room for optimization. Automation and other tech-driven fixes can fix many of these problems.
“Waabi develops autonomous trucking using cutting-edge generative artificial intelligence in the physical world. I’m thrilled to support Raquel’s vision with our investment in Waabi powered by Nvidia Technology,” Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang stated in a press release announcing the funding round.
Waabi has now raised $280 million in total since its founding in 2021.
Urtasun , named a CNBC Changemaker in Febrary, says that the capital will be used for the deployment of fully autonomous, AI-powered autonomous vehicles in 2025.
Urtasun stated that this funding round will give them everything they need, both strategically and financially, to launch driverless trucks in 2025 and accelerate their growth.
Waabi anticipates that its AI will be used for more than just trucking. This includes humanoid robots and warehouse robots.