Waabi raises $1 billion and partners with Uber to deploy 25,000 robotaxis on ride-hailing platform

Waabi Raises $1 Billion in Major Autonomous Vehicle Partnership with Uber

Waabi, the Toronto-based self-driving truck startup, has secured $1 billion in funding while announcing an ambitious autonomous vehicle partnership with Uber to deploy at least 25,000 robotaxis exclusively on the ride-hailing platform 1

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. The funding includes an oversubscribed $750 million Series C round co-led by Khosla Ventures and G2 Venture Partners, plus an additional $250 million in milestone-based capital from Uber tied specifically to the robotaxi deployment 1

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. Other investors participating in the Series C funding include Nvidia's venture capital arm NVentures, Volvo Group Venture Capital, Porsche Automobil Holding SE, BlackRock, Radical Ventures, and a subsidiary of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority 5

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. The deal represents one of the largest fundraises in Canadian history and brings Waabi's total funding to roughly $1.28 billion after closing a $200 million Series B in June 2024 1

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Expansion into Robotaxis Marks Strategic Shift for Autonomous Trucking Leader

The expansion into robotaxis represents Waabi's first venture beyond autonomous trucking since founder and CEO Raquel Urtasun established the company in 2021 2

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. Urtasun, who previously served as chief scientist at Uber's Advanced Technologies Group (Uber ATG) before the division was sold to Aurora Innovation in 2020, emphasized that this isn't a pivot but rather a demonstration of the company's generalizable AI architecture 1

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. "Our incredible core technology really enables, for the first time, a single solution that can do multiple verticals, and they can do them at scale," Urtasun told TechCrunch. "It's not about two programs, two stacks" 1

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. The partnership builds on Waabi's existing relationship with Uber Freight and marks a full-circle moment for Urtasun's work in autonomous vehicles 1

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Physical AI and AV 2.0 Technology Powers Multi-Vertical Approach

Waabi represents what industry observers call "AV 2.0," a new generation of autonomous vehicle companies using end-to-end AI models that learn to drive from vast amounts of data 5

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. The company's physical AI platform centers on the Waabi Driver, which is trained, tested, and validated using a closed-loop simulator called Waabi World that automatically builds digital twins of the world from data, performs real-time sensor simulation, and manufactures scenarios to stress-test the system 1

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. This AI-centric technology allows the system to reason about its surroundings as a human would and choose optimal maneuvers, enabling it to generalize and learn from fewer examples than traditional autonomous driving systems 1

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. Urtasun explained that the exact same AI models driving Waabi's trucks will power its robotaxis, with the model simply being aware of which vehicle it's operating 5

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Competitive Landscape and Strategic Positioning Against Industry Giants

The partnership positions Waabi to compete directly with established players like Waymo, which previously attempted both robotaxis and trucking before shutting down its freight program 1

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. Waabi joins a growing roster of AV companies deploying self-driving cars on Uber's platform globally, including Waymo, Nuro, Avride, Wayve, WeRide, and Momenta 1

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. The deal mirrors Uber's recent partnership with Nuro and Lucid Motors to deploy 20,000 robotaxis, signaling Uber's commitment to defend its ride-hailing turf by deploying tens of thousands of autonomous vehicles worldwide 4

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. Compared to competitors, Waabi has raised significantly less capital—Aurora Innovation has raised $3.46 billion while Kodiak Robotics secured $448 million to date 1

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. Urtasun claims this capital-efficient approach gives Waabi a unique advantage: "We don't need the gazillion humans to develop the technology and the large fleets that AV 1.0 needs. We don't need the massive data centers, energy consumption, or a gazillion latest chips" 1

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Timeline and Operational Challenges Ahead for Deploy 25,000 Robotaxis

While Waabi has committed to deploy 25,000 robotaxis—a floor rather than a ceiling according to Urtasun—the companies declined to provide specific timelines, target markets, or vehicle platforms for the deployment 2

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. This ambitious announcement comes from a startup that has yet to validate its self-driving cars for commercial operation, though it has launched several commercial pilots with human safety drivers in Texas 1

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. The company had planned to launch fully driverless trucks on public highways by the end of last year, but the rollout has been delayed until sometime in the next few quarters as Waabi works with Volvo to fully validate purpose-built autonomous trucks revealed at TechCrunch Disrupt last October 1

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. Urtasun told Fortune the robotaxi rollout would happen "super fast" and "much faster than anybody can think," though she acknowledged that robotaxis introduce new challenges including passenger safety risks and increased liability considerations 5

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Driver as a Service Model and Future Physical AI Applications

Waabi is transitioning from operating its own fleet to a "driver as a service" business model, positioning itself as a technology provider rather than a fleet owner or manager 3

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. The company's direct-to-consumer approach enables shippers to buy outfitted trucks directly, and Urtasun expressed confidence that the Uber partnership will allow Waabi to "quickly penetrate the market and scale with a product that will be very reliable" 1

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. Looking beyond autonomous trucking and robotaxis, Urtasun has hinted that the company's next vertical could be robotics, emphasizing that "it's obvious that the physical AI moment is here" and that "autonomy is the first application where scale is going to happen" 4

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. The technology's ability to master surface streets alongside highway driving—originally developed to enable direct cargo delivery to final destinations rather than hub-to-hub operations—opened the door to urban robotaxis and demonstrates the platform's versatility across different driving environments 4

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