Waabi, Volvo Team to Develop Self-Driving TrucksWaabi, Volvo Team to Develop Self-Driving Trucks

AI start-up Waabi is teaming with Volvo to jointly develop and deploy autonomous trucks at scale.

The pair are partnering in a long-term strategic collaboration that they say will accelerate the rollout of self-driving trucks across the United States.

The agreement will see Volvo Autonomous Solutions integrate the Toronto-based company’s Waabi Driver solution into its VNL Autonomous truck.

This is the vehicle that was initially unveiled at the ACT Expo in Las Vegas last year. In December, it was announced the Class 8 Semi would be used by DHL for freight operations on two routes in Texas.

On these occasions it was fitted with tech from Pittsburgh company Aurora Innovation. Now Volvo’s truck will be equipped with the Waabi Driver and produced at its New River Assembly plant in Virginia.

The VNL Autonomous features an array of built-in redundancies for steering, braking, power management, energy storage and more. The Waabi Driver, meanwhile, delivers its automated functionality via what the company describes as an “end-to-end interpretable and verifiable AI model.” This is powered by what is claimed to be the industry’s most realistic neural simulator, allowing autonomous vehicles fitted with the tech to safely generalize to different scenarios on the road.

Related:Volvo Reveals Production-Ready Self-Driving Truck

The result of this reliance on AI, Waabi argues, is an ability to provide solutions to a wider array of scenarios than humans can, in tandem with a vastly reduced need for testing, bringing about significant savings in time and money compared with more traditional methods. 

According to the companies, the groundwork for the integration has already been prepared and testing will commence later this year.

Raquel Urtasun, founder and CEO of Waabi, said: “At Waabi, we believe that vertically integrating next-generation AI technology directly into an OEM’s vehicle production is the path forward to bring safe, robust autonomous vehicles to the road, at scale.

“Volvo’s leadership in safety, commitment to excellence in engineering and investment in forward-looking innovation makes them an ideal partner to realize the future of self-driving trucks everywhere.”

Shahrukh Kazmi, chief product officer at Volvo Autonomous Solutions, added: “Waabi is at the forefront of developing self-driving technologies leveraging the full power of AI. 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.”

Volvo has heavily backed Waabi over the past couple of years, providing an initial injection of capital in January 2023 and contributing to a $200 million funding round in June last year.

Related:Volvo Starts Self-Driving Truck Operations in Texas