DEPLOY

Company

Waabi

Canadian autonomous-trucking company (founded 2021 by Raquel Urtasun, former Uber ATG chief scientist and University of Toronto professor). Builds the Waabi Driver, an end-to-end generative-AI L4 system trained and validated in the Waabi World generative simulator. Targets driverless commercial trucking on the Volvo VNL Autonomous platform; as of early 2026 it still runs with a safety driver (the end-2025 driver-out target was deliberately not met, gated on the purpose-built Volvo truck). In January 2026 it raised about $1B and added a robotaxi lane with Uber.

Based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada · Founded 2021

Machine-readable surfaces

Key facts

Founded
2021 by Raquel Urtasun (ex-Uber ATG chief scientist; U of Toronto; Vector Institute)
Funding
Series A $83.5M (Khosla, 2021); Series B $200M (Uber/Khosla, 2024); Series C $750M + up to $250M Uber milestone (Jan 2026); ~$1.28B cumulative
Approach
Generative-AI, simulation-first: the Waabi Driver (end-to-end L4) trained/validated in Waabi World; Copilot4D world model
Driverless status
NOT driver-out as of early 2026; safety driver still aboard. End-2025 driverless target deliberately not met; gated on validation of the purpose-built Volvo VNL Autonomous (described as quarters away).
Leadership / lanes
Lior Ron (ex-Uber Freight) joined as COO (Aug 2025); trucking is the core direction, with a robotaxi lane added via Uber (Jan 2026)
HQ
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Founded
2021
Status
private
Type
brain
ID
efd17dd1-0c95-47b7-bc97-5481441b9936

Brains developed (1)

Supplies to

No verified supply relationships on file. Supply-chain coverage is being added across the registry; check back as the seed populates this company’s outbound edges.

Outbound supply edges from this company. Each relationship appears here when verified with at least two strong sources (maker-official / IR / regulatory / standards-body / verified tier-2). Sources are append-only; corrections add new sources rather than rewrite history.

Sources (12)

  1. https://techcrunch.com/2021/06/08/ai-pioneer-raquel-urtasun-launches-self-driving-vehicle-startup-with-backing-from-khosla-uber-and-aurora/
  2. https://betakit.com/raquel-urtasun-launches-new-self-driving-startup-waabi-with-100-million-cad-from-top-investors/
  3. https://www.utoronto.ca/news/road-ahead-raquel-urtasun-s-startup-unleash-full-power-ai-self-driving-cars
  4. https://techcrunch.com/2021/06/14/waabis-raquel-urtasun-explains-why-the-time-was-right-to-launch-an-av-technology-startup/
  5. https://www.cnbc.com/2024/06/18/uber-khosla-nvidia-invest-in-autonomous-trucking-startup-waabi.html
  6. https://waabi.ai/insights/waabi-series-b-announcement
  7. https://techcrunch.com/2026/01/28/waabi-raises-1b-and-expands-into-robotaxis-with-uber/
  8. https://fortune.com/2026/01/28/waabi-fundraise-valuation-1-billion-partners-with-uber-robotaxis-self-driving/
  9. https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/article-waabi-uber-robotaxi-fleet-uber-raquel-urtasun/
  10. https://betakit.com/waabi-lands-750-million-usd-series-c-partners-with-uber-on-robotaxis/
  11. https://techcrunch.com/2025/08/12/uber-freight-ceo-lior-ron-joins-self-driving-startup-waabi-as-chief-operating-officer/
  12. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-01-28/self-driving-trucking-startup-waabi-raises-1-billion-expands-to-robotaxis