History of Waabi in Timeline

Waabi is an AI company focused on developing self-driving technology. Headquartered in Toronto, the company was founded and is led by Raquel Urtasun, previously a professor at the University of Toronto and Chief Scientist at Uber ATG. Urtasun's leadership and expertise in AI and autonomous vehicles are central to Waabi's mission of creating safe and efficient self-driving solutions.

June 8, 2021: Series A Funding Round

On June 8, 2021, it was reported that Waabi had raised $83.5 million USD in a series A funding round led by Khosla Ventures, at the time the largest series A funding round in Canadian history.

2021: Waabi Founded

In 2021, Waabi was founded with a focus on developing self-driving technology modeled after the human brain. The name Waabi means "she has vision" in Ojibwe and "simple" in Japanese.

2022: Waabi World Simulator Launched

Waabi World, a closed-loop simulator, was launched in 2022. It generates scenarios a self-driving vehicle could encounter in the real world, to reduce costs and lessen the amount of real-world testing needed.

2023: Partnership with Uber Freight

In 2023, Waabi partnered with Uber Freight on a fleet of autonomous trucks to make commercial deliveries between Dallas and Houston, with a safety driver at the wheel.

March 2024: Partnership with Nvidia

In March 2024, Waabi and Nvidia announced a partnership to use the vehicle computing platform Nvidia Drive for generative AI-powered self-driving applications.

June 18, 2024: Series B Funding Round

On June 18, 2024, Waabi announced that it had raised an additional $200 million USD in a series B funding round led by Uber and Khosla Ventures.

February 2025: Collaboration with Volvo Autonomous Solutions

In February 2025, Waabi announced a collaboration with Volvo Autonomous Solutions to jointly develop and deploy self-driving technology in Volvo's long-haul trucks.

August 2025: Lior Ron Joins Waabi as COO

In August 2025, former Uber Freight CEO Lior Ron joined Waabi as COO. He and Urtasun previously worked together for several years at Uber.

October 2025: Launch of the Volvo VNL Autonomous truck

In October 2025, Waabi and Volvo announced the launch of the Volvo VNL Autonomous truck, which integrates Waabi Driver into Volvo's existing autonomous truck technology.

January 2026: Partnership with Uber for Robotaxi Deployment

In January 2026, Waabi announced a partnership with Uber to deploy 25,000 robotaxis on Uber's platform.

January 28, 2026: Series C Funding Round and Uber Investment

On January 28, 2026, Waabi announced that it had raised an additional $1 billion ($750 million in a series C funding round, led by Khosla Ventures and G2 Venture Partners, and a new $250 million investment from Uber related to robotaxi deployment).