The Self-Driving Startup Nobody Saw Coming | E2289

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Self-driving just stopped being a science problem and became an engineering challenge instead. That's the through-line of today's double-header with the CEOs of two of the most important AV companies in the world — Wayve's Alex Kendall and Waabi's Raquel Urtasun. Between them: ~$2B raised in the last six months, Uber as a partner, Nissan and Volvo as OEMs, and a shared bet that end-to-end AI plus world models beats Waymo's city-by-city map-and-pray approach.

If you want to understand the state of the self-driving industry beyond recent Waymo announcements, this is the episode for you.

Guest Links:

Wayve: wayve.ai/

Waabi: http://waabi.ai/

Alex Kendall https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexgkendall/

Raquel Uratsun: https://www.linkedin.com/in/raquel-urtasun-298400139/

Company Links:

Wayve's GAIA-2 world model: https://wayve.ai/thinking/gaia-2/

Wayve's 500 city roadshow: https://wayve.ai/thinking/ai-500-roadshow-500-cities/

Wavye's most recent funding round: https://wayve.ai/press/series-d/

Waybe + Uber: https://wayve.ai/press/wayve-nissan-uber-robotaxi-collaboration/

Waabi closed-loop simulator: https://waabi.ai/insights/waabi-world

Waabi + Volvo: https://waabi.ai/insights/waabi-and-volvo-autonomous-solutions-partner-to-jointly-develop-and-deploy-autonomous-transportation-solutions

Waabi + Uber: https://www.uberfreight.com/en-US/blog/uber-freight-and-waabi-introduce-industry-first-autonomous-truck-deployment-solution

Timestamps:

0:00 Alex Kendall (Wayve) joins the show

1:19 The contrarian bet on end-to-end AI and world models in 2017

3:05 What is a world model? GAIA-2 and GAIA-3 explained

7:34 Sensor agnosticism: camera, radar, LiDAR and minimum bar for safety

9:56 $1.5B raised — have we cracked self-driving?

10:09 Render: Find out why 5 million developers are already using the all-in-one cloud platform, Render. Go to https://render.com/twist and apply for the Render Startup Program to get $500-$100,000 in free credits, depending on your stage and backers.

20:38 Squarespace: Use offer code TWIST to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain at https://www.Squarespace.com/TWIST

25:03 How consumers will actually pay: bundle, subscription, or free trial

30:15 IM8 Health: Start feeling like your best self every day. Go to https://IM8health.com/twist and use the code TWiST to get a free welcome kit, five free travel sachets, and 10% off your order.

35:59 Raquel Urtasun (Waabi) joins the show

36:25 World models as controllable simulators for physical AI

43:34 One AI brain across trucks, robotaxis, and beyond

47:35 What changed in AI to make 2026 the deployment year

52:28 Why Waabi raised $1B when they're capital-efficient

58:52 Where Waabi is today: Volvo VNL Autonomous, Dallas-Houston, Uber Freight

1:00:50 Per-mile pricing and the Driver-as-a-Service model

1:07:20 Has Uber tried to buy Waabi? "Not for sale"

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