- Autonomous vehicle startup Waabi secured $1 billion in funding, including $250 million from Uber, to expand beyond autonomous trucking into robotaxis.
- Waabi's AI technology, trained using a unique simulator called Waabi World, aims to overcome scaling challenges faced by other self-driving companies.
- The partnership with Uber includes the creation of Uber AV Labs and a plan to deploy 25,000+ Waabi Driver-powered robotaxis on the ride-hailing platform.

A: Hey, did you hear about this crazy news about self-driving cars?

B: No way! What’s going on?

A: This company called Waabi just got a *huge* amount of money - like, a billion dollars!

B: Wow! A billion? That's a lot. Who’s Waabi?

A: They're a startup, focused on self-driving tech. And get this - they're partnering with Uber!

B: Seriously? Uber is using their tech now? I thought they had problems with that before.

A: Exactly! Uber is betting that Waabi's technology will actually work this time. They plan to use Waabi's cars as robotaxis.

B: That’s a big deal! So, they’re not just doing trucks anymore?

A: Nope! They've been working on trucks, but they've been planning for robotaxis all along. The founder, Raquel Urtasun, used to work *at* Uber!

B: Oh, that’s interesting. So, how are they different from other companies like Waymo?

A: Apparently, Waabi's approach is more efficient. They use a special simulator to train their AI, which means they need less data and fewer people.

B: Less data? That sounds amazing. Everyone is always talking about needing *tons* of data.

A: Right! And Uber's even created a new division, Uber AV Labs, to help with this whole process. They're collecting data from the Waabi cars.

B: So, when will we see these robotaxis driving around Tokyo?

A: That’s the thing – they haven’t said exactly when! It’ll take some time to get everything set up.



A: But the partnership sounds really exciting, right?