Waabi lands $1B and Uber deal to deploy 25,000 robotaxis
What’s the deal? Waabi has lined up $1B in new capital and struck a deal with Uber to deploy 25,000 or more Waabi-powered robotaxis on Uber’s platform. The Toronto-based startup, best known for autonomous trucking, says the package includes an oversubscribed $750M Series C led by Khosla Ventures and G2 Venture PartnersDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, plus $250M from Uber tied to robotaxi milestones.
Waabi, founded in 2021 by chief executive officer Raquel UrtasunDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, says it will use the money to speed up commercial deployment of autonomous trucks and expand into robotaxis. The company did not disclose its valuation, launch markets, or a rollout timeline.
Why now? Uber has been stacking robotaxi partnerships as it pushes into self-driving without rebuilding an in-house programme. For Waabi, the tie-up offers a fast path from freight to consumers, with Uber’s network as the distribution layer.
Waabi is also betting that one “shared brain” can power both trucks and robotaxis, so progress in one product improves the other. That pitch places it in the “AV 2.0” camp using end-to-end AI models rather than rule-heavy stacks and deep mapping.
What could go wrong? Robotaxis are a regulatory and safety minefield, and “milestone-based” funding means cash can depend on hitting targets that may slip. Waabi also has to prove its system can handle dense urban driving while it is still validating its trucking platform for fully driverless operations.
Competition is brutal and well funded, from Alphabet’s Waymo to Tesla, as well as Amazon-owned Zoox and a growing list of Uber partners. If the timeline stays vague, the market may treat the announcement as ambition rather than execution.
The signal: Big cheques are back for “physical AI,” as investors chase companies that can move beyond pilots and into revenue at scale. The round also reinforces a shift in autonomy: platforms are separating into software builders, fleet operators, and demand aggregators like Uber.
If Waabi can ship both freight and robotaxis on one core system, it could compress the timeline for commercial autonomy. If it cannot, the deal will still stand as proof that Uber intends to be the marketplace for robotaxis, regardless of which supplier wins.
Sources:
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