Company
Waabi
Canadian autonomous-trucking company (founded 2021 by Raquel Urtasun, former Uber ATG chief scientist and University of Toronto professor).
- Founded
- 2021
- HQ
- Toronto, Ontario, Canada
- Status
- private; Series C $750M (Jan 2026, Khosla + G2 co-lead) + ~$250M Uber milestone (up to $1B); expanded into robotaxis (25,000-AV Uber deal)
Appears inLogistics robots
Deployments
1
Overview
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.
Verified record
- Verified deployments
- 1 deployment on file
- Active incidents
- None on file
DEPLOY Intelligence
Market intelligence for physical AI
Analyst-grade signals, competitive tracking, and investment context across the global physical AI landscape. Launching 2026.
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)
Data & sources
Press releases
1
News coverage
6
Web sources
5
12 sources backing this record.View all →
Waabi on the deployment map
Where Waabi's robots are verified operating. Explore the deployment map by place and type.
Relationships
Claims ledger
Public, dated claims by Waabi, each tracked against the evidence. Status is a DEPLOY assessment from primary sources: verified means an independent source confirms it; contradicted means one refutes it; open means the outcome is not yet determinable. Every entry keeps its verbatim quote and source so you can check the call yourself.
- OpenTimeline · claimed 2026-01-01 · deadline 2027-03-31
“Driverless on-highway by Q1 2027, 300+ autonomous trucks by end of 2027, ~$3B revenue ambition within five years”
Waabi has a partnership with Volvo Autonomous Solutions and Uber Freight for autonomous trucking. Driverless target is Q1 2027 — 8 months from now. No driverless operations confirmed as of July 2026. 300+ trucks and $3B revenue are aspirational targets. https://www.linkedin.com/posts/raquel-urtasun-298400139_waabis-partnership-with-volvo-autonomous-activity-7471235208181071872-yHPD
- VerifiedCustomer · claimed 2025-01-01
“Waabi's partnership with Volvo Autonomous Solutions”
Partnership confirmed. Volvo VNL Autonomous uses Aurora Driver, but Waabi has a separate partnership with Volvo for simulation and AI stack integration. https://www.linkedin.com/posts/raquel-urtasun-298400139_waabis-partnership-with-volvo-autonomous-activity-7471235208181071872-yHPD
- VerifiedCustomer · claimed 2025-01-01
“Waabi and Uber Freight partnership for autonomous trucking”
Partnership confirmed in earlier research session. Waabi is providing the autonomous driving system; Uber Freight provides the logistics network. https://gatik.ai/ (industry context)
Disagree with a status? Waabi can submit a correction with evidence and we log the response on the record. Methodology and the full industry ledger live at /stats/claim-integrity.
Explainers
Plain-language answers to the questions people ask about Waabi, from DEPLOY’s explainer library. Each is written in the language of the question and cross-checked against this registry.
- How do Bot Auto, Kodiak, and Einride compare for self-driving trucking?
Bot Auto, Kodiak AI, and Einride operate three structurally distinct autonomous-trucking strategies. Bot Auto runs Class 8 humanless commercial truckloads on Texas corridors via brokered freight (Houston-Dallas). Kodiak AI operates customer-owned driverless trucks at Atlas Energy's Permian Basin frac-sand operations. Einride runs autonomous electric cabless trucks under a private-road point-to-point commercial model (GE Appliances in Tennessee). Three operators, three different envelopes, three different commercial bets.
Current leadership (1)
- Raquel Urtasun Founder & CEOsecondary-verified
Founders (1)
- Raquel Urtasuncofounderfounded 2021-04-01
Former / Previously (1)
- Eyal Cohen Team memberreported, not verified
Safety record
No incidents on record for Waabi.
Only active incidents are counted. Retracted incidents are excluded from this summary but remain reachable at their canonical URLs.
Full safety record: incidents, sourcing, and exposure data →
Operated deployments (1)
Operator customers (1)
- Waabi1 deployment
Brains developed (1)
- Waabi Driverfoundation-model · pilot
Recent coverage
Waabi in third-party press
Peer companies
- Tesla4 models
- Aurora Innovation3 models
- Waymo3 models
- BelAZ2 models
- Caterpillar2 models
- Caterpillar Mining2 models
Supplied by (1)
Compute / semiconductor
- NVIDIAvia Waabi Driver Autonomous TruckNVIDIA DRIVE Thor centralized computer (powers Waabi Driver generative AI autonomous trucking solution; first generative AI-powered L4 truck stack on DRIVE Thor; NVIDIA is Series B strategic investor; announced GTC 2024)supplies
Inbound supply edges feeding this company directly or via the models it owns. Same source bar as the outbound view (verified against at least two strong sources).
Financial state
- Reporting basis
- aggregator_estimate
- Lifecycle stage
- growth
- Counterparty risk class
- moderate
Each numeric field carries its own basis marker. Aggregators report a number; this surface preserves the source class so verification depth travels with the value.
Partnerships (4)
- Waabi x Uber with Uberdeployment
- Waabi x Volvo Autonomous Solutions with Volvo Autonomous Solutionsdevelopment
- Waabi Series B (2024) with NVIDIA, Uber, Khosla Ventures, Porsche, Volvo Group Venture Capitalinvestment
- Waabi x Uber Robotaxi with Uberdeploymentannouncedreported, not operationally verified
Funding rounds (3)
- Series C2026-01-28
$750M
Investors: Khosla Ventures (co_lead), G2 Venture Partners (co_lead), NVentures (NVIDIA) (strategic), Volvo Group Venture Capital (strategic), Porsche Ventures (strategic)
- Series B2024-06-18
$200M
Investors: Uber (strategic) (lead), Khosla Ventures (lead), NVentures (NVIDIA) (strategic)
- Series A2021-06-08
$84M
Investors: Khosla Ventures (lead)
Sources (12)
- https://techcrunch.com/2021/06/08/ai-pioneer-raquel-urtasun-launches-self-driving-vehicle-startup-with-backing-from-khosla-uber-and-aurora/
- https://betakit.com/raquel-urtasun-launches-new-self-driving-startup-waabi-with-100-million-cad-from-top-investors/
- https://www.utoronto.ca/news/road-ahead-raquel-urtasun-s-startup-unleash-full-power-ai-self-driving-cars
- https://techcrunch.com/2021/06/14/waabis-raquel-urtasun-explains-why-the-time-was-right-to-launch-an-av-technology-startup/
- https://www.cnbc.com/2024/06/18/uber-khosla-nvidia-invest-in-autonomous-trucking-startup-waabi.html
- https://waabi.ai/insights/waabi-series-b-announcement
- https://techcrunch.com/2026/01/28/waabi-raises-1b-and-expands-into-robotaxis-with-uber/
- https://fortune.com/2026/01/28/waabi-fundraise-valuation-1-billion-partners-with-uber-robotaxis-self-driving/
- https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/article-waabi-uber-robotaxi-fleet-uber-raquel-urtasun/
- https://betakit.com/waabi-lands-750-million-usd-series-c-partners-with-uber-on-robotaxis/
- https://techcrunch.com/2025/08/12/uber-freight-ceo-lior-ron-joins-self-driving-startup-waabi-as-chief-operating-officer/
- https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-01-28/self-driving-trucking-startup-waabi-raises-1-billion-expands-to-robotaxis
Common questions
- What is 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.
- What does Waabi make?
- Waabi has 1 robot model on the DEPLOY registry: Waabi Driver Autonomous Truck (Waabi builds robot foundation models or autonomy software).
- Is Waabi publicly traded?
- No. Waabi is privately held and not publicly traded, per the DEPLOY registry.
- Who competes with Waabi?
- On the DEPLOY registry, peer companies to Waabi building in the same form factors include Tesla, Aurora Innovation, Waymo, BelAZ.
- Who is the CEO of Waabi?
- Raquel Urtasun is the ceo of Waabi, per the DEPLOY registry.
- How can I invest in Waabi?
- Waabi is a private company; its shares are not available on public markets, so retail investors cannot buy the stock today.
- Where is Waabi headquartered?
- Waabi is headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
- Who owns Waabi?
- Waabi is privately held; ownership sits with its founders and private investors.
- Where does Waabi operate robots?
- Waabi operates 1 verified deployment, including at Texas.
- Is Waabi a top robotics company?
- On DEPLOY's intelligence score, which blends verified deployments, funding, hiring, media, safety, and IP signals, Waabi ranks in roughly the top 28% of companies tracked by the registry.
- When was Waabi founded?
- Waabi was founded in 2021.
- Is Waabi safe?
- Waabi has no incidents on record in the DEPLOY registry. This does not constitute a safety guarantee; it reflects the incidents DEPLOY has tracked and verified to date.
Methodology: Verified · 12 sources (1 primary) · last reviewed 2026-07-08
Verification posture
Verified
High confidence
Review state
Stable
Last reviewed 2026-07-08
Sources by quality tier
- 5
- unclassified
- Unclassified source
- 4
- secondary-industry-publication
- Industry publication
- 2
- secondary-established-publication
- Established publication
- 1
- primary-company-ir
- Company IR disclosure
The framework is documented at /methodology. Corrections at /corrections. Reviewer: DEPLOY editorial team.
Methodology surface for Waabi.Peer companies
- Tesla4 models
- Aurora Innovation3 models
- Waymo3 models
- BelAZ2 models
- Caterpillar2 models
- Caterpillar Mining2 models
In the press
Recent coverage mentioning Waabi from third-party publications. Automatically surfaced; not part of the verified registry record.
Waabi demonstrates zero-shot AI transfer across autonomous truck platforms
Physical AI systems must be capable of generalizing across new situations and tasks, applying learned knowledge reliably and safely in unfamiliar conditions. Waabi has announced…
Waabi, Volvo Claim Breakthrough in Scaling Autonomous Trucking
Waabi says its AI-powered virtual driver successfully transferred to Volvo Autonomous Solutions' Volvo VNL Autonomous platform without retraining or additional data, a milestone…
EXPO NEWS: And the winners are…
Waymo, Waabi, Volvo, Wayve, Euro NCAP and Parallel Domain are the winners of the second ADAS & Autonomous Vehicle International Awards, recognizing industry innovation in vehicle…
Autonomous startup Waabi raises 50 million to expand into robotaxis
Waabi raised 50M with Uber as lead investor, expanding from autonomous trucking into robotaxis. Committed to deploying at least 25,000 autonomous vehicles via Uber's platform.
Raquel Urtasun Raises B to Expand Waabi Into Robotaxis
Waabi raised B total from investors and Uber to enter the robotaxi market, partnering with Uber to deploy tens of thousands of autonomous vehicles.
Machine-readable surfaces
- Markdown mirror: /companies/waabi.md
- RSS feed: /companies/waabi/feed.xml
- JSON-LD: embedded in this page’s head
- REST API: /v1/companies/efd17dd1-0c95-47b7-bc97-5481441b9936
- Revision history: /companies/waabi/history
- Data documentation: /data
- Query this programmatically: Deploy MCP
Peer companies
- Tesla4 models
- Aurora Innovation3 models
- Waymo3 models
- BelAZ2 models
- Caterpillar2 models
- Caterpillar Mining2 models
Video
CEO Raquel Urtasun says the funds, including $250 million from Uber, will help get at least 25,000 robotaxis using her tech on Uber’s platform and launch trucki
Canadian self-driving startup Waabi has raised $1 billion in financing with plans to expand from autonomous trucking to robotaxis with Uber. Waabi CEO Raquel Ur
At HumanX, Raquel Urtasun shared how Generative AI is the key to building scalable self-driving trucks. She highlights how Waabi's approach to unlocking autonom
Raquel Urtasun, CEO & founder of Waabi, joins BNN Bloomberg to discuss the company's development of AI for autonomous trucks and robotaxis. +++ Subscribe to B
Waabi CEO Raquel Urtasun details her company's $1 billion funding round and new partnership with Uber. She explains how Waabi's "single brain" will power both t
The future of autonomous trucking is here. We've successfully integrated the Waabi Driver with the Volvo VNL Autonomous, reaching a major milestone and setting
In October 2025, we achieved a major milestone. After a rigorous safety assessment, spanning the entire design, implementation, and operation of the Waabi Drive
Waabi has raised $1 billion and partnered with Uber to deploy 25,000 autonomous robotaxis on its platform. In this video, we break down the $750M Series C round
AI hardware revolution is here! Watch Raquel Urtasun, CEO of Waabi, and Jeff Cardenas, CEO of Apptronik, discuss the future of humanoid robots and autonomous ve
Robotics news for July 7, 2026: Waabi transfers its AI driver software onto the Volvo VNL Autonomous Class 8 truck with zero retraining, Munich-based Quantum Sy
Reality vs attention
Waabi draws attention at the 73rd percentile but verifies reality at the 18th percentile among truck robots. Hype Gap +54.6, 2nd widest among truck robots.
6-month trend
Analysis
Clean safety record across 1 verified deployment. Well-capitalized with $1.0B raised and recent funding activity. Deployment footprint remains limited relative to category peers.
Signal flags
Dimension breakdown
Verified signal
Attention (reach, not merit)
DEPLOY Intelligence scores are computed from verified registry data: confirmed deployments, disclosed funding rounds, regulatory filings, active job listings, video viewership, and press coverage. Confidence ratings reflect data availability. Scores update nightly.
DEPLOY Indices — verified vs claimed
Last computed: Jul 15, 2026