Autonomy startup Waabi secures $750 million and partners with Uber
Waabi was founded as recently as 2021 and, like its competitors Aurora, Einride, and PlusAI, has so far focused on autonomous trucks. However, Waabi is now broadening its scope with a ‘Physical AI Platform,’ where the same AI system powers applications for autonomous trucks and robotaxis.This compelling vision has secured Waabi a major funding round: the company has raised $750 million in a Series C round. The round was led by venture capital firms Khosla Ventures and G2 Venture Partners, with participation from various financial investors and banks, as well as strategic investors such as Uber—a long-standing partner of Waabi through Uber Freight—alongside Nvidia, Volvo Group—one of Waabi’s pilot customers—and Porsche SE.A key detail: Porsche SE is not the sports car manufacturer but the holding company that owns the majority of ordinary shares in Volkswagen AG and 25 percent plus one share of the ordinary shares in Porsche AG. It has also been investing in mobility-related startups for some time. For example, Porsche SE invested in the startup as early as 2024.Largest funding round in Canadian historyThe funding—the largest startup financing round in Canadian history—will drive the further development of Waabi’s platform, accelerate the company’s commercial success in autonomous driving, and support its expansion into the robotaxi market.Waabi’s plans for robotaxis are already well-defined: building on the progress and maturity of its autonomous truck offering, the company is now launching its second physical AI application with a robotaxi solution. “We are thrilled to partner with the best-in-class ridesharing platform to bring about a safer, more efficient, and sustainable future,” said Raquel Urtasun, Founder and CEO of Waabi.25,000 robotaxis planned for Uber platformWaabi is entering into an exclusive partnership with Uber to deploy robotaxis equipped with Waabi Driver technology on the Uber platform. As part of this strategic partnership, Uber will additionally invest milestone-dependently in the further development of Waabi’s robotaxis and the deployment of at least 25,000 robotaxis equipped with Waabi’s solution. This will significantly accelerate the widespread adoption of robotaxis. In total, an additional $250 million in funding is possible.“Waabi’s expanded focus on robotaxis marks an important milestone for their team and the AV industry more broadly. We’re very excited to deepen our partnership with Waabi as they significantly scale their Physical AI Platform and enter a new phase of an already remarkable journey,” said Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi.waabi.ai
