Computer Vision News - November 2021

3 Summary 7 Raquel Urt sun on our highways, while highways are still very difficult, it’s much simpler than driving in cities. That’s why we believe that long-haul driving is what makes the most sense in terms of our first use case. We’re not an auto manufacturer, we’re not going to build our own trucks, but we will be partnering with folks like OEMs in order to bring Waabi’s software technology to driving those trucks. Okay, so now you have the money and the brain, what more do you need? [ laughs ] Yeah, great question! Maybe it’s worth talking a little bit about the money as you call it. We are backed up by best-in-class investors from deep technologies, such as Khosla Ventures, which is our lead investor, logistics like 8VC or Uber, as well as the thriving Canadian ecosystem that is growing very, very nicely in terms of entrepreneurship. We fundraised one of the largest Series A in Canadian history. Over CA$100 million, which is alittlebit overUS$83million.We’revery excited that people understand why there is a need for new technologies in self-driving, and that they understand this is the team, if any, that can deliver this new technology. How many are you there now? The team right now is a little bit over 40, but we need to grow because we have very ambitious plans to deliver this technology so that society can really benefit from it. We are going to invest most of our investment money on growing the team. So, you’re hiring! Yes! You can see a lot of hiring opportunities on our website at waabi. ai. What might go wrong? [ Raquel laughs ] I’m sure that you have thought about it! I’m sure that sometimes in your mind you say, “What if…?” [ Raquel pauses to think ] The solution to self-driving at this scale doesn’t exist yet. As with everything that doesn’t exist yet, there’s always the risk of – will you get there? I believe that if there is a path to solve this, it’s this path! But there is always the risk that because it’s a very hard problem, can you solve it? I absolutely believe we can, which is why I’ve dedicated my life to self-driving for more than “If you reallywant to change technology and you know what technology you believe is really going to get us there, the best thing to do is to start a new company.”