The Toronto-based autonomous-truck startup led by computer scientist Raquel Urtasun will give Uber’s logistics division—and carriers using the platform—access to its AI technology. The pair’s first commercial route is now live in Texas. (The Logic)

Talking point: This isn’t the first time Urtasun and Uber have teamed up. The University of Toronto researcher used to lead R&D at Uber’s Advanced Technologies Group in Toronto until the company sold the autonomous driving division to Aurora Innovation in early 2021. Urtasun, who also co-founded the Vector Institute for AI, launched Waabi in June of that year with US$83.5 million from a group of high-profile investors, including Uber. Waabi is one of several startups trying to automate long-haul truck driving. It’s a feat plenty of firms, including Uber itself and self-driving competitor Waymo, have struggled with. “Uber Freight has the scaled freight network and marketplace expertise needed to efficiently and safely deploy our AI-powered autonomous driving technology at scale,” Urtasun said in a press release.