Urtasun: Autonomous trucking is where self-driving will scale first

Summary

Raquel Urtasun, founder and CEO of Waabi, discusses the company's $1 billion funding round and its focus on autonomous trucking and robotaxis. She says Waabi's single-brain AI system is verifiable, safe, and capital-efficient, with commercial trucking operations already underway in the US. The company is expanding into robotaxis through an Uber partnership targeting more than 25,000 vehicles on the Uber network. Urtasun argues self-driving adoption is still in its early innings and sees $1 trillion opportunities in both trucking and robotaxi verticals in the US alone.

• Waabi raised $1 billion in new funding.
• Waabi focuses first on autonomous trucking, with commercial operations since 2023.
• The company plans to expand into robotaxis via an Uber partnership.
• Urtasun says Waabi's single-brain AI is verifiable, safe, and scalable.
• The US is the first market due to a more advanced regulatory framework.
• She sees $1 trillion US opportunities in trucking and robotaxi verticals.
• She says self-driving adoption remains in the first innings.