From self-driving trucking lanes to your Uber app
Toronto-based startup Waabi just closed a massive $1 billion funding round to push its self-driving truck technology forward – and it’s gearing up to enter the robotaxi market through an exclusive deal with Uber.
Now, the plan is to roll out tens of thousands of autonomous robotaxis across Uber’s network over time.
Why Uber is backing this bet
Waabi has reportedly raised $750 million in a new round led by Khosla Ventures and G2 Venture Partners, as well as $250 million coming from Uber. The Canadian startup hasn’t shared its valuation, but the size of the investment shows strong backing for its approach to autonomous driving.
Although Waabi is already testing self-driving Volvo trucks in Texas, the new funding will help move those tests toward commercial deployment and support the company’s expansion into robotaxis. Uber’s involvement could eventually lead to large fleets of Waabi-powered robotaxis, but details on when or where that might happen remain under wraps.
At the center of Waabi’s strategy is what it calls a “Physical AI” system, which acts almost like an AI brain for vehivles. It relies heavily on realistic simulation and a single neural network designed to work across different vehicle types.
Instead of building separate stacks of hand-coded systems, Waabi is training one adaptable driving model that can transfer from trucking to passenger vehicles.
Who built the brain behind Waabi
When Waabi founded in 2021, it wasn’t just another AI startup – it was the next chapter in a career Raquel Urtasun had been building for years. A leading voice in AI and computer vision, she’d already made her mark as a professor at the University of Toronto and as a co-founder of the Vector Institute, helping shape one of the world’s top AI research hubs.
Before that, she brought research into the real world as Chief Scientist at Uber Advanced Technologies Group. With academic roots stretching from EPFL to MIT to UC Berkeley, Urtasun built a rare bridge between theory and practice – and Waabi is the natural result.
What’s next for Waabi and the future of self-driving vehicles
With the new funding in hand, Waabi is shifting from research mode to scale mode. And because part of the investment from Uber is tied to milestones, Waabi will be under real pressure to prove it can hit safety and commercial targets – all while regulators watch closely.
The Uber partnership also gives Waabi something many self-driving startups struggle to get when it comes to a built-in path to customers. That puts it in a stronger position against rivals like Waymo, Aurora Innovation, and Wayve, in a market that’s increasingly dominated by a small group of heavily funded players.
Even so, big questions remain. There’s still no clear timeline for large-scale robotaxi launches, regulatory approval is often slow and uneven, and Waabi’s bet on running one AI system across very different vehicles hasn’t yet been proven at scale. The funding buys time and momentum – and the hardest part, turning promising tech into everyday transportation, is still ahead.
