TORONTO, June 18, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Waabi, a company pioneering generative AI for the physical world, today announced it has raised $200 million (USD) in an oversubscribed Series B round, led by Uber and Khosla Ventures. The funding round includes participation from best-in-class strategic investors NVIDIA, Volvo Group Venture Capital, Porsche Automobil Holding SE, Scania Invest and Ingka Investments. Additional financial investors include HarbourVest Partners, G2 Venture Partners, BDC Capital’s Thrive Venture Fund, Export Development Canada, Radical Ventures, Incharge Capital, and others. The new funding, which brings total investment in Waabi to more than $280 million (USD), will support the company’s deployment of fully driverless, generative AI-powered autonomous trucks in 2025.

Only three years on from the company’s inception Waabi is on the verge of reaching Level 4 autonomy. This industry-leading pace and capital efficiency is made possible through the company’s revolutionary approach to unleashing generative AI in the physical world.

Waabi has pioneered a single end-to-end AI system that is capable of human-like reasoning, enabling it to generalize to any situation that might happen on the road, including those it has never seen before. Because it is able to reason, the system requires significantly less training data and compute resources compared to other end-to-end approaches. Further departing from these approaches, Waabi’s system is fully interpretable and its safety can be validated and verified. The innovation marks a first across autonomous vehicles and AI systems deployed in the physical world. This end-to-end AI system, paired with Waabi World, the world’s most advanced simulator, reduces the need for extensive on-road testing and enables a safer, more efficient solution that is highly performant and scalable from day one.

"I have spent most of my professional life dedicated to inventing new AI technologies that can deliver on the enormous potential of AI in the physical world in a provably safe and scalable way," said Raquel Urtasun, Founder and CEO of Waabi. "Over the past three years, alongside the incredible team at Waabi, I have had the chance to turn these breakthroughs into a revolutionary product that has far surpassed my expectations. We have everything we need — breakthrough technology, an incredible team, and pioneering partners and investors — to launch fully driverless autonomous trucks in 2025. This is monumental for the industry and truly marks the beginning of the next frontier for AI."

This round of investment brings together pioneers and trailblazers across deep tech, AI, automotive, as well as shipping and logistics ecosystems, all in support of Waabi’s innovative approach and ambitious vision. With the infusion of strategic capital, Waabi is well positioned to launch fully driverless trucks in Texas, expand driverless operations to new geographies, and transform the supply chain.

Jensen Huang, Founder and CEO of NVIDIA
“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. I have championed Raquel’s pioneering work in AI for more than a decade. Her tenacity to solve the impossible is an inspiration.”

Dara Khosrowshahi, CEO of Uber
“We are big believers in the potential for autonomous technology to revolutionize transportation, making a safer and more sustainable future possible. Raquel is a visionary in the field and, under her leadership, Waabi’s AI-first approach provides a solution that is extremely exciting in both its scalability and capital efficiency.”

Vinod Khosla, Founder of Khosla Ventures
"Change never comes from incumbents but from the innovation of entrepreneurs that challenge the status quo. Raquel and her team at Waabi have done exactly that with their products and business execution. We backed Waabi very early on with the bet that generative AI would transform transportation and are thrilled to continue on this journey with them as they move towards commercialization."

Geoff Hinton, AI Luminary
“Self-driving technology is a prime example of how AI can dramatically improve our lives. Raquel and Waabi are at the forefront of innovation, developing a revolutionary approach that radically changes the way autonomous systems work and leads to safer and more efficient solutions.”

The new capital will also be used to grow Waabi’s commercial operations and expand the company’s team in both Canada and the United States. It builds on recent momentum for Waabi including the opening of its new Texas AV trucking terminal, a collaboration with NVIDIA to integrate NVIDIA DRIVE Thor into the Waabi Driver, and its ongoing partnership with Uber Freight, running autonomous shipments for Fortune 500 companies and top tier shippers in Texas.

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, BDC, EDC, Radical Ventures, Incharge Capital, and others.

To learn more, visit www.waabi.ai or follow us on X or LinkedIn.

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