重口味SM

Waabi鈥檚 self-driving technology set to be road-tested, Raquel Urtasun tells Globe and Mail, Forbes

overhead view of a waabit self-driving truck on a highway
(Photo courtesy of Waabi)

The 重口味SM鈥檚 Raquel Urtasun, a leading expert in machine learning and computer vision, is taking her startup鈥檚 self-driving technology for long-haul trucks out for a spin, with several autonomous vehicles ready to hit the road in the United States, according to reports.

The CEO and founder of Waabi told the that a handful of trucks are 鈥渞eady to be deployed鈥 with human drivers and engineers on-board for safety. In , Urtasun 鈥 a professor of computer science in the Faculty of Arts & Science and faculty member at the Vector Institute for Artificial Intelligence 鈥 said that Waabi will train the self-driving system to navigate any number of virtual scenarios using a simulator that harnesses the full power of AI.

She added that the approach gives Waabi an advantage over bigger competitors since it鈥檚 more efficient 鈥 and effective 鈥 than relying on real-world testing. 

鈥淏ecause we can do everything on the simulator we are already ready with a generation that is much more advanced,鈥 Urtasun told the magazine.

Waabi emerged from stealth mode in June 2021 after raising more than $100 million in funding from Silicon Valley giants such as Khosla Ventures and Uber, as well as AI luminaries including U of T's Geoffrey Hinton, a  Emeritus and Sanja Fidler, an associate professor of computer science.

The Bulletin Brief logo

Subscribe to The Bulletin Brief

UTC