Waabi and Volvo partner on self-driving trucks
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
Waabi and Volvo Trucks are partnering to bring self-driving trucks to American highways. Photo courtesy of Waabi
Waabi will begin integrating its self-driving technology into Volvo's most advanced trucks, the companies said Tuesday.
Why it matters: The partnership is another sign that self-driving trucks are getting close to deployment on American highways.
The big picture: While robotaxis slowly advance in a handful of cities, the prospect for autonomous trucking is gaining momentum, with most testing focused along busy freight corridors in Texas.
- Several autonomous truck companies, including Aurora, Kodiak and Torc Robotics, are already hauling customer cargo on test routes. Some expect to launch commercially, without backup safety drivers in the cab, by the end of this year.
- Another company, Gatik, specializes in "middle mile" logistics using smaller trucks on local roads to deliver goods for companies like Kroger, Sam's Club and Pitney Bowes.
Between the lines: Autonomous vehicle development has entered a new phase.
- In the past, AV developers tried to rack up millions of miles in test cars, collecting data that could be used to program self-driving algorithms with step-by-step instructions.
- In AV 2.0, companies use AI to teach a virtual driver to reason like a human so it can make snap decisions correctly and safely, even in situations the robot has never seen before.
Zoom in: Waabi, founded by former Uber scientist Raquel Urtasun, is a leader in this so-called end-to-end AI approach to self-driving.
- It requires significantly less training data and compute resources than other approaches (and thus less capital, too), which is one reason Waabi is close to deployment, just four years after its founding in Toronto.
- Through its partnership with Volvo Autonomous Systems, Waabi will integrate the virtual Waabi Driver into the Volvo VNL Autonomous, a new purpose-built truck designed with redundant systems to enable safe autonomous operations.
- The truck will be built at Volvo Trucks' sprawling factory in Dublin, Va.
What they're saying: ""We are excited to integrate Waabi's cutting-edge technology into our autonomous truck platform and work together to jointly develop a safe, efficient, and scalable autonomous transport solution," said Shahrukh Kazmi, Chief Product Officer at Volvo Autonomous Solutions, in a statement.
