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In today’s episode, I’m speaking with Raquel Urtasun, Founder and CEO of Waabi. Raquel shares how she got into the self-driving field, why she left Uber to build Waabi, and what she believes sets the company apart. We also discuss Waabi’s current operations and footprint, its philosophy, and the three pillars Raquel sees as essential to commercial scale.
Raquel explains how much human supervision Waabi’s trucks require today and the final milestone before the company can operate without a driver. We dig into the metrics Waabi uses to measure progress, its hardware approach, and its partnership with Volvo Autonomous Solutions. She also discusses Waabi’s other truck manufacturer partnerships and how quickly the Waabi Driver can transfer between vehicle platforms.
The conversation then turns to how Waabi tests its claims about zero-shot transfer across truck platforms and why Raquel chose trucking as the company’s starting point. We compare trucking with other autonomous vehicle markets and discuss Waabi’s fundraising and its partnership with Uber to deploy robotaxis. Finally, Raquel shares her perspective on what it will take to bring autonomy to more vehicles at scale.
Chapters
(00:00) Introduction to Raquel Urtasun
(01:50) Raquel’s background and how she got into the self-driving field
(04:35) Why Raquel Urtasun left Uber to Build Waabi
(07:20) How Waabi stands out from its competitors
(09:20) Waabi’s current operations, footprint, and philosophy
(11:30) Waabi’s three pillars for commercial scalability
(16:07) What level of human supervision is involved in Waabi’s current product?
(16:30) Waabi’s final milestone before full driverless operations
(20:30) What drives Waabi’s scalability, and which KPIs does it track?
(22:40) Waabi’s hardware and partnership with Volvo Autonomous Solutions
(24:45) Waabi’s other OEM partnerships
(25:35) How quickly the Waabi Driver transfers between vehicle platforms
(28:30) How Waabi scientifically tests zero-shot transfer across OEM truck platforms
(30:45) How Raquel ranks different autonomy verticals and why Waabi started with trucking
(36:50) Waabi’s fundraising and their partnership with Uber to deploy robotaxis
(40:45) Conclusion and final thoughts
Notes/Links:
Waabi’s partnership with Volvo Autonomous Solutions, mentioned at the 22:40 timestamp (link).
Waabi’s announcement of the Waabi Driver’s zero-shot transfer between truck platforms, mentioned at the 25:18 timestamp (link).
Waabi’s latest fundraising and partnership with Uber, mentioned at the 36:48 timestamp (link).
Waabi’s website (link).
-Harry
