Waabi Driver is integrated into Volvo VNL as companies look to commercialize driverless trucks.
Toronto Autonomous Car Startup Guar used in the new Volvo VNL autonomous truck.
“Autonomy has the potential to solve some of the biggest challenges in the transportation industry, including safety, efficiency and capacity.”
Integration follows Waabi unite with the Swedish automaker (also one of its investors) earlier this year to produce and commercialize self-driving trucks. Waabi founder and CEO Raquel Urtasun told BetaKit when the partnership was announced that the deal was a “huge step forward” and the final piece the startup needed to create a scalable solution. Now her company's core offering, Waabi Driver, has been successfully integrated into a Volvo truck equipped with redundant systems for safe, autonomous operation.
“The future of autonomous trucking depends on three critical areas: autonomous technology that is safe, scalable and can meet customer needs; equipment specifically designed for autonomous operations from the ground up; and a commercial deployment model that solves supply chain problems without adding friction,” Urtasun said in a statement.
In a separate statement, Volvo's president of autonomous solutions, Nils Jaeger, said partnerships like these play an important role in both advancing autonomous technology and building a broader ecosystem to support commercial adoption.
“Autonomy has the potential to solve some of the biggest challenges in the transportation industry, including safety, efficiency and capacity,” Jaeger said. “By working together, we are laying the foundation for a more sustainable future for freight.”
CONNECTED: Waabi Hires Uber Freight CEO to Lead Commercialization of Self-Driving Trucks
Waabi named Lior Ron, co-founder and CEO of Uber's cargo division, as chief operating officer. in Augustas the company targets autonomous deployment of its self-driving trucks by the end of the year. Urtasun continued this theme by showing a Volvo truck at TechCrunch violationsaying her company has the potential to become the first company to commercialize driverless trucks without human safety oversight.
Guar in partnership with Uber Freight in 2023, will combine its Waabi Driver with Uber Freight's logistics platform, marketplace and autonomous freight operations to create a driver-as-a-service solution. Waabi-powered trucks for Uber Freight are regularly used in Texas, between Dallas and Houston, and Urtasun. said both companies are seeking to expand their joint activities.
Waabi is focusing on U.S. pilots because Canada doesn't yet have the regulatory framework to support road testing of its technology, Urtasun said. IN Toronto Technology WeekThe CEO called on the Government of Canada to quickly develop a regulatory framework to ensure the responsible deployment of artificial intelligence-powered physical technologies such as autonomous vehicles.
Image courtesy of Waabi.
