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Raquel Urtasun

Chief Scientist of Uber ATG, Head of Uber ATG R&D, Head of Uber ATG Toronto, Professor at University of Toronto

Raquel Urtasun is the Founder and CEO of Waabi, an AI company building self-driving technology.35 She is also a Full Professor in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Toronto and a co-founder of the Vector Institute for AI.3 Urtasun is considered a world-leading expert in AI for self-driving cars.3

Urtasun was previously the Chief Scientist and Head of R&D at Uber ATG from 2017 to 2021.3 Prior to that, she was a Canada Research Chair in Machine Learning and Computer Vision from 2015 to 2017.34

Background::

  • Urtasun was born on January 30, 1976.2
  • She received a bachelor's degree in Telecommunication Engineering from the Universidad Publica de Navarra in 2000.23
  • In 2006, she earned a Ph.D. degree from the Computer Science department at École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL).23
  • She completed postdoctoral research at MIT (2006–2008) and UC Berkeley (2008–2009).23

Career Highlights::

  • Assistant Professor at the Toyota Technological Institute at Chicago (TTIC) (2009–2014).12
  • Visiting professor at ETH Zurich in 2010.23
  • Hired by Uber in May 2017 to lead a Toronto-based research team on self-driving cars.2
  • Chief Scientist and Head of R&D at Uber ATG (2017-2021).3
  • Founded Waabi Innovation in 2021, focusing on developing self-driving cars.2
  • Named OCC's 2023 Emerging Technology CEO of the Year.5

Recognition and Awards::

  • NSERC EWR Steacie Fellow.34
  • NVIDIA Pioneers of AI Award.34
  • Ministry of Education and Innovation Early Researcher Award.3
  • Three Google Faculty Research Awards.34
  • Amazon Faculty Research Award.34
  • Connaught New Researcher Award.3
  • Fallona Family Research Award.3
  • Chatelaine 2018 Woman of the year.3
  • 2018 Toronto's top influencers by Adweek magazine.3
  • Fellow of The Royal Society of Canada (2024).4

Urtasun's research interests include machine learning, computer vision, robotics, AI, and remote sensing.23

Highlights

Jun 26 · linkedin

Advances in AI over recent years have been nothing short of remarkable. But we’ve still only scratched the surface of AI’s potential. The next leap forward will see generative AI graduate out of the virtual world and move into the physical world where it will interact with humans in their day-to-day lives.

This next frontier will empower humanity in extraordinary ways. It will unlock unprecedented efficiencies, enhance safety, and create opportunities we can only begin to imagine.

I shared my thoughts on the path toward this future and the pioneering role that Waabi is playing with our revolutionary technology that is uniquely capable of human-like reasoning. Though today we are focused on unlocking the promise of autonomous trucks, the flexibility and generalization abilities of our technology will empower all kinds of robots with very different form factors — from other types of vehicles to warehouse robots to humanoids.

I’m so excited and optimistic for this future and so incredibly proud of my team at Waabi. Cannot wait for what’s to come!

Jun 18 · linkedin

I have spent more than two decades dedicated to inventing new AI technologies that can deliver on the enormous potential of AI in the physical world in a safe and scalable way.

In the past three years at Waabi I have seen that vision transform into a reality. We have set a new pace and standard for self-driving companies with our revolutionary foundation model that, paired with Waabi World, the world’s most advanced generative AI powered simulator, enables a safer, more efficient solution that is highly performant and scalable from day one.

Today, we are taking yet another step forward and announcing $200M USD in an oversubscribed Series B round, led by Uber and Khosla Ventures. The new funding will enable us to further accelerate the development of the Waabi Driver and launch fully driverless autonomous trucks by 2025.

This is monumental for the industry and truly marks the beginning of the next frontier for AI.

The incredible list of investors who have joined us on this round represent pioneers and trailblazers across deep tech, AI, automotive, as well as shipping and logistics ecosystems including NVIDIA, Volvo Group Venture Capital, Porsche Automobil Holding SE, Scania Group Invest, Ingka Investments, HarbourVest Partners, G2 Venture Partners, BDC Capital (Canada), Export Development Canada | Exportation et développement Canada, Radical Ventures, Incharge Capital Partners, and others.

I am filled with gratitude for the extraordinary team at Waabi, our partners, and everyone who has supported us along the way. Thank you for believing in our bold vision!

You can read more about our news here:

Related Questions

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Raquel Urtasun
Raquel Urtasun, photo 1
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Location

Toronto, Ontario, Canada