Waabi Scores $200M for AI-Driven Trucks

Welcome to the Ride AI Newsletter, your weekly digest of important events and new developments at the intersection of technology and transportation. 

What You Need to Know Today

Let’s start today’s dispatch with something lighthearted. Watch a humanoid robot drive a tiny car very slowly.

OK now a serious question: Will the future of autonomous vehicles be powered by generative AI? “Autonomous vehicle development is essentially stuck — it's still too difficult and expensive to scale up the technology into a profitable business. By tapping the power of generative AI, some companies see a faster, more capital-efficient way to teach robots to drive.”

A good example of this “AV 2.0” is Waabi, a self-driving truck company that was founded in 2021 and just secured $200M in funding from prominent backers including Khosla Ventures, Nvidia, Uber, and Volvo. The Toronto-based company is aiming to launch fully self-driving trucks next year by relying on a generative AI model to predict how vehicles move.

How China overtook the US to become the world leader in self-driving cars.

One key difference between the two countries: The AV industry in China is subject to far less oversight. And because Beijing is known to suppress reports of fatal crashes involving driverless vehicles, an NYT reporter decided to go on a few ride-alongs to see how safe Chinese robotaxis really are.

Meanwhile, a new AV player is emerging onto the scene in China. Shanghai just gave Tesla permission to pilot its most advanced autonomous software.

Related: Tesla shareholders are suing Elon Musk over his decision to start xAI, alleging it is a competing artificial-intelligence company.

Japanese startup Tier IV has raised $54 million in a Series B round, led by Suzuki Motor, to develop self-driving technology for minicars.

Detroit is launching self-driving shuttles for elderly and disabled residents. The free service from May Mobility will start operations next week in an 11-square-mile patch of downtown.

A California Senate bill that would have given large cities the power to tax or restrict robotaxi deployments has been shelved for the time being.

Waymo is issuing a voluntary software recall—its second ever—after one of its self-driving vehicles hit a telephone poll in Phoenix last month. To resolve the issue, the company has completed a software update for its entire fleet of 672 driverless-capable vehicles.

Anatomy of a robotaxi crash: An in-depth new report provides the definitive account of what happened during Cruise’s pedestrian dragging mishap last fall.

RapidFlight has been awarded a $10M contract by the US Air Force to develop 3D-printed autonomous drones.

Using AI-powered cameras to sweep the streets, the city of Stockton, CA uncovered 4,000 code violations, such as illegal parking and boarded windows, during a five-day pilot.

Amid rising security concerns about GPS, Tern AI has raised $4.4M to launch a new navigation system that is powered by an AI learning model.