Waabi Secures $200 Million in Series B Funding
Waabi, an autonomous trucking business located in Toronto, revealed that its Series B fundraising round, which was oversubscribed, brought in $200 million. Leading this round were longtime backers Uber and Khosla Ventures, with additional investment from Nvidia, Porsche, and the venture capital division of Volvo. With this most recent transaction, Waabi has invested $280 million in total since its establishment in 2021.
Waabi’s Innovative Approach to Autonomous Trucking
Waabi’s creative application of generative AI distinguishes it in the self-driving car space. Waabi has developed the only AI system that can think like a person, whereas many developers rely on significant human-driven testing to predict road scenarios. This system can anticipate and resolve issues that may go unnoticed by human intellect. The core of Waabi’s strategy is their closed-loop simulator, Waabi World, which creates a wide range of actual scenarios that a self-driving car would run across on its own. This eliminates the requirement for the firm to deploy a sizable fleet of vehicles over millions of kilometers to test and certify its technology effectively.
“A system like this has astounding abilities to generalize and handle the unknown, is more efficient to train, and its safety can be mathematically validated and verified,” said Raquel Urtasun, Waabi’s founder and CEO. Urtasun’s vision is to make autonomous driving safer and more efficient through advanced AI technologies.
To streamline shipments throughout the United States, Waabi connected its AI-powered software and sensors, dubbed Waabi Driver, with Uber Freight’s logistics network in September. After starting operations in Dallas and Houston, this ten-year alliance hopes to ultimately spread to other cities in Texas and even throughout the country.
With the trucking business handling more than 70% of the country’s freight, it is an essential part of the American economy. It does, however, confront some difficulties, such as a lack of drivers, safety issues, and supply chain inefficiencies. The supply chain is still plagued by inefficiencies even with the pandemic-related problems receding, particularly in the transportation industry. Waabi’s and other automation- and technology-driven solutions can solve a lot of these issues and improve load control.
“Waabi is developing autonomous trucking by applying cutting-edge generative AI to the physical world. I’m excited to support Raquel’s vision through our investment in Waabi, which is powered by Nvidia technology,” Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang stated. Waabi and Nvidia announced earlier in March that they will collaborate to deploy Nvidia’s DRIVE Thor vehicle computer platform for Waabi’s generative AI-powered self-driving apps. The rising popularity of Nvidia as a venture capitalist underscores the growing dependence of self-driving tech businesses on artificial intelligence technology.
In February, Urtasun, who was designated a CNBC Changemaker, emphasized how important the extra money would be to Waabi’s aspirational objectives. “With this funding round, we have all the resources we need, financially and strategically, to introduce fully autonomous trucks and quicken our rate of expansion by 2025,” the spokesperson stated.
Waabi sees uses for its AI technology in humanoid and warehousing robots, among other domains. Waabi wants to alter not just the trucking business but also other industries where automation may have a profound impact by utilizing generative AI.
