Autonomous vehicle startup Waabi has secured $1 billion in fresh capital and struck a landmark partnership with Uber, marking its first major push beyond self-driving trucks and into passenger robotaxis.
The move is expected to place the company at the center of the next phase of the global autonomy race.
The funding comprises an oversubscribed $750 million Series C round co-led by Khosla Ventures and G2 Venture Partners, alongside roughly $250 million in milestone-based capital from Uber. The Uber-backed tranche is tied directly to deployment and will support the rollout of at least 25,000 robotaxis powered by the Waabi Driver, which will operate exclusively on Uber’s ride-hailing platform.
The companies did not disclose a timeline, but the scale of the commitment signals a long-term strategic bet rather than a limited pilot.
The agreement reinforces Uber’s post-2020 strategy of positioning itself as a global marketplace for autonomous vehicles rather than developing the technology in-house. For Waabi, it represents a decisive expansion from freight into consumer mobility, testing its claim that a single AI system can scale across multiple autonomous driving verticals.
Founded in 2021 by Raquel Urtasun, Waabi has built its reputation in autonomous trucking, presenting itself as a capital-efficient counterpoint to earlier AV efforts that consumed billions of dollars without achieving widespread commercialization. Urtasun, who previously served as chief scientist at Uber’s autonomous driving division before it was sold to Aurora Innovation, has consistently argued that the industry’s first generation was constrained by data-hungry models, massive fleets, and sprawling engineering teams.
According to TechCrunch, at the core of Waabi’s approach is the Waabi Driver, trained and validated primarily in a closed-loop simulation environment known as Waabi World. Instead of relying on enormous volumes of real-world driving data, Waabi World creates detailed digital twins from limited sensor input, simulates complex driving conditions in real time, and automatically generates edge-case scenarios. The system then learns from its own errors without human intervention, a process Urtasun says enables human-like reasoning while dramatically reducing data and compute requirements.
That architecture underpins Waabi’s claim that it can move from trucks to robotaxis without rebuilding its technology stack from scratch, a challenge that has tripped up others. Waymo, widely regarded as the industry leader, previously attempted to pursue both autonomous trucking and robotaxis before shutting down its freight programme to focus solely on passenger vehicles. Waabi is betting that its generalizable AI can succeed where those efforts fell short.
“Our core technology enables, for the first time, a single solution that can handle multiple verticals at scale,” Urtasun said, rejecting the idea that robotaxis and trucks require separate programmes or teams.
The Uber partnership brings Waabi into an increasingly crowded ecosystem. Uber currently works with several autonomous vehicle companies, including Waymo, Nuro, Avride, Wayve, WeRide, and Momenta, deploying self-driving vehicles across different regions and use cases. The company has also launched a new unit, Uber AV Labs, designed to help partners collect and refine driving data using Uber’s global fleet.
While Uber’s platform offers distribution and scale, Waabi insists it is not dependent on Uber’s data advantage. Urtasun maintains that Waabi’s simulation-first approach allows the company to train and validate its system with fewer real-world miles, reducing costs and speeding development.
Waabi’s expansion into robotaxis comes as it continues to advance its trucking ambitions. Over the past four and a half years, the company has launched several commercial pilots in Texas with safety drivers. A fully driverless truck deployment, initially targeted for late 2025, has been delayed into the coming quarters as vehicle validation continues.
The company is working closely with Volvo to develop purpose-built autonomous trucks, unveiled last October, and has adopted a direct-to-consumer model that allows shippers to purchase autonomous-ready vehicles outright. Urtasun says demand remains strong, describing the trucking business as a stable foundation that supports Waabi’s broader ambitions.
The new funding round brings Waabi’s total capital raised to roughly $1.28 billion, following a $200 million Series B in June 2024. While that trails Aurora Innovation’s roughly $3.46 billion war chest, it places Waabi well ahead of several other competitors in terms of private funding momentum. Investors in the Series C include Uber, Nvidia’s venture arm NVentures, Volvo Group Venture Capital, Porsche Automobil Holding SE, BlackRock, and BDC Capital’s Thrive Venture Fund.
Looking ahead, Waabi is already signaling that autonomy may not be its final frontier. Urtasun has hinted that the same AI foundation could eventually extend into robotics, reinforcing her view that Waabi is building a general intelligence system for machines operating in the physical world, not just vehicles.
“We’re still in the early stages of robotaxi deployment,” she said. “There is much more scale ahead.”
If Waabi can translate its simulation-driven promises into safe, large-scale deployments on Uber’s platform, the partnership could reshape not only the company’s trajectory but also the broader narrative around how autonomous driving technology is built, financed, and brought to market.
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