Key Points
- Self-driving startup Waabi and automaker Volvo have unveiled a new autonomous truck. The truck is powered by Waabi’s “Waabi Driver” AI software.
- Waabi’s CEO claims the company could be the first to commercialize trucks without a human driver.
- The system can handle both highway and surface street driving.
- Waabi is already testing in Texas and plans to expand across the U.S. in the coming years.
Self-driving truck startup Waabi has unveiled a new autonomous truck, built in partnership with Volvo. The “Volvo VNL Autonomous” truck is the first product to emerge from the collaboration between the two companies, announced just eight months ago.
The truck is based on Volvo’s new autonomous vehicle platform, but it’s powered by Waabi’s own self-driving software, the “Waabi Driver.” The company says its software is an “end-to-end AI model” that can handle both highway driving and more complex surface streets, a key to making the technology commercially viable.
Waabi’s CEO, Raquel Urtasun, made a bold claim during the unveiling, saying the company could be the first to commercialize self-driving trucks without a human safety driver or observer. This was a subtle dig at a rival, Aurora, which launched its own driverless service earlier this year but later added a human observer to the truck.
Aurora also has a partnership with Volvo, and the two companies are using the same truck model. But Urtasun emphasized that Waabi’s version is different because of its integrated technology. “Volvo VNL has been built from the ground up for the redundancies so that you can remove the human driver,” she said.
Waabi is already testing its trucks in Texas and plans to expand nationwide over the next few years. The partnership with Volvo, a major player in the trucking industry, is a big vote of confidence in the startup’s technology.
