Self-driving tech startup Waabi raises $1 billion, expands to robotaxis

Waabi Innovation Inc., a Canadian startup that develops self-driving technology for trucks, has secured $1 billion in funding for its commercial expansion, including entering the robotaxi market with partner Uber Technologies Inc.

The Toronto-based company closed a $750 million round led by existing backers Khosla Ventures LLC and G2 Venture Partners, according to founder and Chief Executive Officer Raquel Urtasun. The round was oversubscribed by “hundreds of millions of dollars and we actually closed the entire fundraise in a quarter,” she said in an interview. The company declined to share its latest valuation.

Other investors in Waabi’s Series C round include Uber, the venture capital arms of Nvidia Corp. and Volvo AB, Porsche Automobil Holding SE as well as funds and accounts managed by BlackRock Inc.

Waabi also received an additional $250 million in “milestone-based future investment” from Uber to launch at least 25,000 robotaxis equipped with its software exclusively on the ride-hailing platform, it said in a statement on Wednesday. The company will announce more details on car manufacturing partners, launch markets and other parties that will manage and operate its car fleet at a later date, Urtasun said.

Numerous players in the autonomous-vehicle industry, from technology startups to ride-hailing companies, have been working to build viable businesses around the emerging technology. By expanding into robotaxis, Waabi joins other software developers in teaming up with Uber or Lyft Inc. to reach consumers at scale.

Uber, for its part, has planted stakes in the robotaxi race by striking a wide range of partnerships, as opposed to making acquisitions or developing the technology in-house as it did previously.

Urtasun said Waabi is able to take a prudent approach to capital spending as it plans to repurpose the same technology it uses to help trucks navigate highways and streets in different types of cars. Like Alphabet Inc.’s Waymo — the US leader in robotaxi services — Waabi’s vehicles will be equipped with multiple sensors to perceive its surroundings.

But Urtasun said Waabi’s technology is different in that it doesn’t require extensive mapping or need to have observed various scenarios for it to learn how to drive in new environments, meaning it should take less time to validate with a safety driver.

Waabi last year inked a deal with Volvo to produce self-driving trucks, although it has pushed back a timeline for commercial tests of the big-rigs without a safety driver on public roads, which it had targeted for some time last year. The company made a decision late last year to wait for a fully redundant hardware platform to be ready from Volvo before doing so, a spokesperson said.

— By Natalie Lung (Bloomberg)