Just when you thought the autonomous vehicle funding frenzy had cooled to a sensible simmer, Waabi has arrived with a billion-dollar bucket of gasoline. The Toronto-based AI startup just announced a colossal $1 billion funding round to turbocharge its autonomous trucking operations and, more startlingly, to deploy a massive fleet of robotaxis in an exclusive partnership with Uber.
The deal involves an oversubscribed $750 million Series C round co-led by Khosla Ventures and G2 Venture Partners, with an additional commitment from Uber tied to the development and deployment of 25,000 or more Waabi-powered robotaxis on its network. This bombshell, reportedly the largest venture capital raise in Canadian history, catapults Waabi from a promising trucking-focused firm into a direct challenger in the cutthroat robotaxi arena. The round also saw participation from heavyweights like NVentures (NVIDIA’s venture arm), Volvo Group Venture Capital, and Porsche Automobil Holding SE.
At the heart of Waabi’s audacious plan is its “Physical AI” platform, which the company claims uses a single “shared brain” to power both its trucks and the upcoming robotaxis. This simulation-first approach, which heavily relies on its Waabi World simulator, is designed to be more capital-efficient, allegedly sidestepping the need for “gazillion humans” and massive real-world fleets that competitors rely on for training data. The idea is that every lesson learned by a truck on a Texas highway can be instantly transferred to a robotaxi navigating a dense city street, and vice-versa.
Why is this important?
This isn’t just a big check; it’s a strategic gambit that reshuffles the deck in the autonomous vehicle industry. For one, it’s a massive vote of confidence in a simulation-first, AI-centric approach over the brute-force, data-collection methods of “AV 1.0” companies. For another, the exclusive Uber partnership provides Waabi with a clear, scalable path to market—a hurdle where many well-funded AV startups have stumbled.
By pivoting from the arguably harder problem of autonomous trucking to the dual fronts of logistics and ride-sharing, Waabi is making a bold declaration. It’s betting that its unified AI brain is the silver bullet that can crack both markets simultaneously. If successful, this could create an unprecedented feedback loop of learning and deployment, leaving more specialized competitors in the dust. The robotaxi wars just got a whole lot more interesting.
