A Canadian company with large operations in the United States is working to clear regulatory hurdles to bring self-driving technology to Canada after signing a major deal with Uber, its CEO said.
Toronto-based Waabi Innovation Inc has won a US$1 billion contract to “triple down” and commercialize its self-driving truck system and enter the robotaxis market.
“We are a world leader in self-driving trucking, and it’s really exciting to be able to bring this from Canada,” CEO Raquel Urtasun said in an interview with BNN Bloomberg on Thursday.
She says she founded the company four and a half years ago.
The deal with Uber will see Waabi deploy 25,000 robotaxis.
“What you see with this big robotaxi deal is that their excitement is tripled… in that Waabi is actually the provider of the Uber network.”
Urtasun, who previously worked for Uber, said Uber was an early investor in her company.
“They really understood what our technology could do,” Urtasun said.
She wants to bring the same technology to Canada, but says she faces government hurdles here.
She said the company started operations in the U.S. because the regulatory framework is more advanced than Canada, but is working with the government to bring the technology to Canada as soon as possible.
“We are working with regulators to ensure that this technology can be deployed safely here as well,” Urtasun said.
She said the company has been testing vehicles on the road with safety drivers since 2022.
“We can actually prove that our system is secure,” Urtasun said.
Urtasun says the same AI system will also work for self-driving trucks and robotaxis, allowing the company to quickly and seamlessly enter the robotaxis market.
“Our autonomous systems have really good performance for driverless driving,” Urtasun said.
She said the trucks can operate on roads in urban environments and that Wabi has worked with “some of the largest shippers and carriers in North America.”
Waabi can take full advantage of the power of AI and its systems through inference, prove that they are safe, and can be used in conjunction with simulators to learn efficiently, Urtasun added.
She said the system could teach the system to perform “better than humans” to avoid accidents on the road, and the benefits of the technology are driving Wabi to prepare for the next stage..
With competitors like Waymo and Tesla offering self-driving services, Urasan says her company has “more than enough space” to gain market share for years to come.
“We have next-generation technology that allows us to enter the robotaxis market quickly and efficiently. The robotaxis market is a huge $1 trillion market in the United States alone,” Urtasun said.
Urtasun said the company has been operating in Texas since 2023.
With files from The Canadian Press
