Autonomous trucking startup Waabi raises $200 million

By Zaheer Kachwala

(Reuters) - Waabi has raised $200 million in a Series B funding round, led by existing investors Uber Technologies and Khosla Ventures, to support the rollout of its fully autonomous trucks next year, it said on Tuesday.

The company is also backed by Nvidia and relies on its AI chips to power self-driving applications.

It currently operates autonomous trucks with safety drivers on planned commercial routes but aims for full self-driving deployment in 2025, four years after the company was founded.

Waabi uses its driving simulation software called the Waabi World to test, train and program the trucks, reducing the risk of testing on public roads and enables the company to be capital efficient, Waabi CEO Raquel Urtasun told Reuters.

Self-driving technology has attracted heavy scrutiny from safety regulators in the U.S. in recent months after accidents and crashes involving vehicles from General Motors' Cruise and Alphabet's Waymo . Waabi raised $83.5 million in a Series A funding round in 2021, led by Khosla Ventures with additional backing from Uber and Aurora Innovation.

The company has a 10-year partnership with Uber freight to transport cargo across commercial routes between Dallas and Houston in Texas but plans to expand operations nationwide and potentially internationally as well, Urtasun added.

(Reporting by Zaheer Kachwala in Bengaluru; Editing by Mohammed Safi Shamsi)