Waabi Innovation Inc.

Waabi Innovation Inc. is a Toronto, Ontario-based autonomous vehicle technology company founded in 2021 by Raquel Urtasun, formerly Chief Scientist and Head of R&D at Uber's Advanced Technologies Group (ATG) and a professor at the University of Toronto. The company develops what it calls a Physical AI Platform — a single end-to-end interpretable AI model that controls both autonomous trucks and robotaxis, using the same shared brain architecture across vehicle types.

Waabi's core technical approach centers on a neural simulator called Waabi World, which the company uses as a primary safety validation tool alongside real-world testing. The simulator generates highly realistic scenarios to train and evaluate the AI model before deployment, reducing the reliance on physical miles driven. The company also employs Mixed Reality Testing, which blends simulated actors into real-world drives to test edge cases.

The company's commercial focus began with long-haul autonomous trucking on North American highways, targeting the freight industry in partnership with Volvo Autonomous Solutions and Uber Freight. In November 2025, Waabi expanded to surface street driving, enabling a direct-to-customer trucking model. In January 2026, Waabi announced an exclusive partnership with Uber to deploy a minimum of 25,000 robotaxis powered by Waabi's self-driving system on the Uber platform.

Funding history: Waabi raised USD 83.5 million in a Series A round in June 2021 led by Khosla Ventures — the largest Series A in Canadian history at the time. In June 2024, the company raised USD 200 million in a Series B. In January 2026, Waabi secured USD 750 million in a Series C co-led by Khosla Ventures and G2 Venture Partners, with participation from Uber, NVentures (NVIDIA's venture arm), Volvo Group Venture Capital, Porsche Automobil Holding SE, and 8VC, with an additional milestone-based commitment from Uber bringing total available capital to USD 1 billion — the largest fundraising round in Canadian startup history.

Strategic partners include Volvo Autonomous Solutions, Uber, NVIDIA, and Uber Freight. The company employs 101–250 people as of 2026 and operates with contacts at [email protected] and [email protected].