Volvo Partners with AI Startup Waabi to Accelerate Autonomous Truck Development

Volvo to deploy Waabi self-driving gen AI to get more autonomous freight trucks on the road this year

Self-driving AI company Waabi is teaming with existing investor Volvo for development and deployment of autonomous trucks. Autonomous transportation startup Waabi and Volvo will jointly develop and deploy self-driving trucks in a deal announced on Tuesday that expands on Volvo's strategic investment in the company. Volvo Autonomous Solutions and Waabi will integrate Waabi Driver into Volvo's existing autonomous truck technology and the production of the Volvo VNL Autonomous truck that is manufactured in New River Valley, Virginia, its largest truck-making plant. The VNL Autonomous was first unveiled by Volvo in May 2024 and first hit the road in December through a deal with DHL. Waabi's tech will add to the safety redundancies already built into the autonomous trucks for steering, braking, communication, computation, power management, energy storage and vehicle motion management systems. Waabi's Ai enables autonomous trucks to understand various scenarios that may be encountered on the road, and that its approach to self-driving safety stand out from most developers who rely on people to think about everything that could go wrong on the road, and then use large fleets to test out scenarios. Its generative AI reasons and, the company claims, can come up with problems human minds couldn't conceptualize. This approach cuts down on resource usage, both human capital and capital investments, that is needed for traditional models that require driving millions of miles of roads. Testing is expected in the Volvo trucks this year. Volvo is not a new partner for Waabi, with Volvo Group Venture Capital the first strategic investor in the company, and an investor in its $200 million Series B venture fundraising. Uber, Khosla Ventures, Nvidia, and Porsche are also investors. The company has raised a total of $280 million. Last March, Waabi and Nvidia announced a partnership to use the chipmaker's vehicle computing platform DRIVE Thor for generative AI-powered self-driving applications. Raquel Urtasun, founder and CEO of Waabi, and who was named a CNBC Changemaker last February, said in a statement about the Volvo deal that the plan is to "realize the future of self-driving trucks everywhere." She previously told CNBC that Waabi's approach "to generalize and handle the unknown, is more efficient to train, and its safety can be mathematically validated and verified." Over 70% of freight moves across the U.S. by truck, and it is a market that has suffered from driver shortages in recent years. Waabi Driver was first integrated into Uber Freight's logistics system for the U.S. transportation market as part of a 10-year partnership that began in September 2023, with an initial focus on usage around Dallas and Houston.

Volvo taps Canadian AI startup Waabi in self-driving truck push

(Bloomberg) -- Volvo AB plans to develop autonomous trucks using technology from Canadian artificial intelligence startup Waabi Innovation Inc., with a goal of testing the big-rigs later this year. Volvo's Autonomous Solutions unit is set to produce "a handful" of trucks through the Waabi partnership this year at the truck maker's plant in Dublin, Virginia, Waabi Chief Executive Officer Raquel Urtasun said in an interview. The production-ready Volvo VNL Autonomous self-driving truck will be rigged with Waabi's self-driving technology, according to a joint statement by the companies. The pair aim to put the trucks on the road through pilot programs after testing, closely-held Waabi said. "It's very important to have a go-to-market partnership," Urtasun said. The work extends Waabi's existing ties to the Swedish heavy-duty truck maker, which invested in the Canadian company in 2023. Volvo is also a manufacturing partner to self-driving trucking company Aurora Innovation Inc.

Volvo Taps Canadian AI Startup Waabi in Self-Driving Truck Push

Volvo AB plans to develop autonomous trucks using technology from Canadian artificial intelligence startup Waabi Innovation Inc., with a goal of testing the big-rigs later this year. Volvo's Autonomous Solutions unit is set to produce "a handful" of trucks through the Waabi partnership this year at the truck maker's plant in Dublin, Virginia, Waabi Chief Executive Officer Raquel Urtasun said in an interview. The production-ready Volvo VNL Autonomous self-driving truck will be rigged with Waabi's self-driving technology, according to a joint statement by the companies.

Waabi and Volvo team up to build self-driving trucks at scale | TechCrunch

Self-driving truck startup Waabi is partnering with Volvo Autonomous Solutions to jointly develop and deploy autonomous trucks, an important milestone as it gets closer to a commercial launch. The tie up also marks Volvo's second partnership to co-develop self-driving big rigs with a startup partner. In May 2024, Volvo teamed up with Aurora Innovation to reveal the Volvo VNL Autonomous truck. Waabi will be using the same truck, but it will have Waabi's tech on it, including its sensor suite, compute, and the Waabi Driver software. "We now have everything we need to scale our product," Raquel Urtasun, founder and CEO of Waabi, told TechCrunch. "We have the next-generation AV 2.0 technology, we have an approach that is much more capital efficient, and a much faster path to market." Waabi plans to launch commercial pilots with the Volvo-built trucks in Texas over the next couple of months, with a product-ready driverless demonstration on public roads planned for the end of 2025. A fully driverless commercial launch - directly between customer depots from day one, rather than via terminals - will follow soon afterwards, according to Urtasun. Urtasun, who previously served as chief scientist at Uber ATG before launching Waabi in 2021, claims to have built AI models that can reason as a human would, which in turn speeds up commercial deployment and makes for a more efficient system overall. She has reasoned that a better quality AI will require much less data and compute to understand and react to the world around it. Waabi has relied on its simulation technology to not just test and train its self-driving technology, but also to help design trucks for OEM integration. The startup unveiled its first purpose-built truck -- with sensors, compute, and software built in at the assembly line -- in 2022. By contrast, competitor Kodiak Robotics has developed a self-driving system that includes all of the redundant hardware and software system, but is not tied to one manufacturer. Urtasun is more interested in integrating the Waabi Driver into autonomous trucks at the factory level with no interruption to an OEM's assembly line. Urtasun believes this is the best approach to building a safe, reliable product. Waabi's partnership with Volvo builds on the automaker's strategic investment into the startup two years ago via its venture arm, Volvo Group Venture Capital. Volvo later participated in Waabi's $200 million Series B. Volvo will build trucks for Waabi at its production-ready facility in Virginia. Urtasun said the first "handful" would come off the assembly line in 2025, and that she expects a timeline of around two to three years to reach volume scale. Over that time, Urtasun also noted that capital efficiency will be "an absolute must" to be successful in this industry. She says Waabi's "AI-first approach" means the startup's capital needs to get to a driverless launch will be "a tiny fraction of what you see in the industry today." To date, Waabi has raised $282 million, per PitchBook data, and Urtasun says the startup has enough to launch a driverless operation on public roads and beyond. Its main competitors, Aurora and Kodiak, have raised $3.46 billion and $243 million, respectively. Aurora plans to launch a driverless commercial trucking operation by April, and Kodiak last month delivered its first autonomous trucks to a commercial partner that will use them for off-road operations. "2025 is the year of trucking; it's a make it or break it situation," Urtasun said. "I think there will be potentially more consolidation." There aren't many players left in the game since Embark and TuSimple shut down and Waymo paused its autonomous truck ambitions. When asked if Waabi was considering a merger or acquisition, Urtasun replied: "Absolutely not. Trucking is only the beginning. We're going to do so much more than trucking - robotaxis, warehouse robotics. I have tremendously big plans for the company, and we are going to remain a fully independent company."

Volvo is teaming up with a Nvidia-backed firm to deploy more self-driving trucks

What DeepSeek's AI breakthrough means for Meta, OpenAI, and Nvidia The companies said they would integrate Waabi's generative artificial intelligence-based technology into the trucks being developed by Volvo Autonomous Solutions, a unit of the Swedish luxury automaker. The trucks, Volvo's VNL Autonomous, will be made at Volvo's assembly plant in Virginia's New River Valley. Testing is expected to begin later this year. "We are excited to integrate Waabi's cutting-edge technology into our autonomous truck platform," Volvo Autonomous Solutions' chief product officer, Shahrukh Kazmi, said in a statement. Waabi CEO Raquel Urtasun said that "vertically integrating next-generation AI technology directly into an OEM's vehicle production is the path forward" to making safe autonomous vehicles at scale. Last May, Waabi signed a multi-year lease on a trucking terminal in Dallas County, Texas, which will be the base for its operations in the state. The company first entered Texas in 2023, making trips between Dallas and Houston through its partnership with Uber Freight. It plans to expand testing in the state this year. In 2024, the company drew $200 million for its Series B funding round from investors such as Nvidia, Khosla Ventures, and Uber. Volvo has also invested in Waabi, participating in both the Series A and Series B rounds. Autonomous trucks have become an increasingly popular concept, potentially reducing the time it takes to transport goods and allowing companies to bypass the limitations of human workers. The industry is also mired in a debate over whether it has a shortage of human drivers or just difficulty retaining workers, largely thanks to long hours and poor wages. According to the consultancy McKinsey & Co., use cases for autonomous trucks could translate into a $616 billion global market in 2035. By that time, the U.S.'s autonomous heavy-duty trucking market could reach a roughly $178 billion valuation, with such vehicles accounting for 13% of all trucks on the road. Volvo has been working on autonomy for years, having developed an autonomous truck concept as early as 2017. A concept electric truck named Vera was unveiled in 2019 and put to work in a Swedish pilot program that year. Volvo has also partnered with Aurora Innovation (AUR-0.44%), a self-driving vehicle company based in Pittsburgh that works with several other companies, including Uber Freight and Continental. In May 2024, the companies debuted the VNL Autonomous at the ACT Expo in Las Vegas, describing the truck as a "purpose-designed and purpose-built" vehicle using Aurora's hardware and software. In December, Volvo began hauling freight on autonomous trucks on two lanes, Dallas to Houston and Fort Worth to El Paso, as part of a partnership with DHL Supply Chain. Since the technology is still being tested, a safety driver is behind the wheel of those vehicles.

Waabi and Volvo Autonomous Solutions partner to jointly develop and deploy autonomous transportation solutions

TORONTO, Feb. 04, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Waabi, the pioneer of generative AI for the physical world, has entered a strategic partnership with Volvo Autonomous Solutions for the joint development and deployment of autonomous trucks. The partnership combines Waabi's groundbreaking innovation in generative AI with Volvo's leadership in automation and safety innovation to unleash autonomous trucking and usher in a new era of safer, more efficient, and sustainable freight transportation. "At Waabi, we believe that vertically integrating next-generation AI technology directly into an OEM's vehicle production is the path forward to bring safe, robust autonomous vehicles to the road, at scale," said Raquel Urtasun, Founder and CEO of Waabi. "Volvo's leadership in safety, commitment to excellence in engineering, and investment in forward looking innovation makes them an ideal partner to realize the future of self-driving trucks everywhere." Through this partnership, Volvo and Waabi are vertically integrating Waabi's virtual driver system, the Waabi Driver, into the Volvo VNL Autonomous, Volvo's autonomous truck with redundant systems for enabling safe autonomous operations. The Volvo VNL Autonomous will be produced at Volvo's flagship New River Valley assembly plant and is based on Volvo's autonomous technology platform, supporting diverse operational needs, use cases, and Volvo Group truck brands. This collaboration aims to transform the $1 trillion North American freight industry by enabling the deployment of autonomous trucks that redefine safety and efficiency standards. Waabi and Volvo are deeply committed to developing autonomous transportation solutions that prioritize safety, efficiency, and sustainability to tackle the challenges facing today's transportation industry. Waabi's next-generation AV2.0 approach, based on an end-to-end interpretable and verifiable AI model, powered by the industry's most realistic neural simulator, enables autonomous trucks that can safely generalize to different scenarios on the road. This innovation, integrated with Volvo's industry-leading purpose-built autonomous truck, is enabling a safe autonomous solution to support broad commercial deployment. "Waabi is at the forefront of developing self-driving technologies leveraging the full power of AI," said Shahrukh Kazmi, Chief Product Officer at Volvo Autonomous Solutions. "We are excited to integrate Waabi's cutting-edge technology into our autonomous truck platform and work together to jointly develop a safe, efficient, and scalable autonomous transport solution." The partnership is a continuation of Volvo's collaboration with Waabi over the past two years, with Volvo Group Venture Capital first becoming a strategic investor in the company in January of 2023 and later investing in the company's $200M USD Series B round. The two companies have laid the groundwork for the integration of the Waabi Driver into the Volvo VNL Autonomous and are preparing for testing in 2025. About Waabi Waabi, founded by AI visionary Raquel Urtasun, is pioneering generative AI for the physical world, first by applying this technology to overhaul the autonomous trucking industry. Waabi is backed by best-in-class investors across the technology, AI, automotive, logistics and Canadian innovation ecosystems, including Khosla Ventures, Uber, NVIDIA, Volvo Group Venture Capital, Porsche Automobil Holding SE, Scania Invest, Ingka Investments, HarbourVest Partners, BDC, EDC, Radical Ventures, Incharge Capital, and others. To learn more, visit www.waabi.ai or follow us on X or LinkedIn. About Volvo Autonomous Solutions The autonomous transport solution offered by Volvo Autonomous Solutions includes a vehicle purpose-built for autonomous driving, a virtual driver, required infrastructure, operations and uptime support as well as a cloud solution that controls the transport system and manages logistics flows. The solutions developed by Volvo Autonomous Solutions are tailor-made for each customer's needs and are intended to make their operations safer, and more productive and sustainable. Media Contacts Waabi E-mail: press@waabi.ai Ceren Wende Head of Marketing and Communication, Volvo Autonomous Solutions Phone: + 46 31 322 4536 E-mail: ceren.wende@volvo.com A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/4dbadb24-afa6-4b75-9cb5-9555688c581d Market News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs

Volvo autonomous trucks to integrate Waabi technology

Between the lines: Autonomous vehicle development has entered a new phase. Zoom in: Waabi, founded by former Uber scientist Raquel Urtasun, is a leader in this so-called end-to-end AI approach to self-driving. What they're saying: ""We are excited to integrate Waabi's cutting-edge technology into our autonomous truck platform and work together to jointly develop a safe, efficient, and scalable autonomous transport solution," said Shahrukh Kazmi, Chief Product Officer at Volvo Autonomous Solutions, in a statement.