“There is so much capital that we can attract and there is such incredible talent that we have here," Urtasun told U of T President Melanie Woodin during a BetaKit event at Toronto Tech Week

Raquel Urtasun, a U of T professor of computer science who is an expert in autonomous vehicle technologies, is the founder and CEO of self-driving trucking company Waabi, which recently raised up to US$1 billion (photo by Lilac Media / BetaKit)

From self-driving vehicles to new frontiers in robotics, the next wave of AI is moving beyond the digital world — and Canada has the necessary ingredients to chart a bold path forward.

Attendees at a BetaKit Most Ambitious town hall on May 25 heard how innovators, buoyed by the country’s strong university-based research system, could play a critical role in safeguarding Canadian sovereignty in this new era.

Raquel Urtasun, founder and CEO of self-driving vehicle company , said transportation is an example of a critical industry that’s undergoing a major shift.

“Transportation is something core where — quoting Evan Solomon, our minister of AI — ‘We need to make sure that we have control over our destiny,’” said Urtasun, who is also a professor of computer science at the University of Toronto, during a fireside chat with U of T President Melanie Woodin.

“We need to make sure we can move goods and people regardless of how geopolitics and the world evolve over the next few years.”

Waabi CEO Raquel Urtasun in conversation with U of T President Melanie Woodin (photo by Johnny Guatto)

Held at the TIFF Bell Lightbox, the event — part of — celebrated the innovators named in ����ٲ�������’s Most Ambitious 2026 issue, . It featured remarks from tech, entrepreneurship and political leaders including Solomon, Canada’s minister of artificial intelligence and digital innovation, Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow and Christian Weedbrook, a former U of T postdoctoral researcher who is the founder and CEO of quantum computing company Xanadu, which recently made its debut as a public company.

Urtasun said Canada’s deep roots in AI research and talent offers an opportunity to lead the way in next-generation automotive technology. While the transportation landscape has long been controlled by large car and truck manufacturers, she said that’s changing with self-driving tech.

In addition to Waabi, Urtasun noted that Canada is home to several other key players in autonomous transportation including parts manufacturer Magna International and operating system developer Blackberry QNX. “We have all the important pieces in order to really lead the transportation of the future ... versus ‘Let's just try to follow the U.S. and try to have something that's competitive here,’” Urtasun said.

Evan Solomon, Canada’s minister of artificial intelligence and digital innovation, speaks at the BetaKit event at Toronto Tech Week (photo by Lilac Media / BetaKit)

Waabi has already made . In January, the company announced it raised US$750 million to accelerate commercialization of its self-driving technology – its investors include Volvo, whose driverless truck is powered by Waabi – in addition to US$250 million in milestone-based funding from Uber to expand into robotaxis.

Urtasun said she hopes to see more Canadian success stories in the sector. “There is so much capital that we can attract and there is such incredible talent that we have here in Toronto, and in Canada in general, that we could become ‘the’ player that dictates what it’s going to be.”

Christian Weedbrook, a former U of T postdoctoral researcher, founded quantum computing company Xanadu (photo by Lilac Media / BetaKit)

Urtasun offered a bold prediction: a majority of vehicles on the road would be “Waabi-powered” within a decade. She also said there were many other potential applications for the company’s physical AI platform, ranging from elder care to mitigation of industrial accidents. “Self-driving is the first big vertical,” she said, adding that “not going all in on physical AI would be such a big miss for the country.”

U of T President Melanie Woodin, then dean of the Faculty of Arts & Science, and Raquel Urtasun on campus with one of Waabi’s self-driving trucks (photo by Nick Iwanyshyn)

The conversation also explored the benefits of academics embarking on entrepreneurial ventures. Recounting Urtasun's proposal to take on a leadership role at Uber’s self-driving lab in Toronto in 2017, Woodin — then the dean of the Faculty of Arts & Science — said the arrangement provided U of T graduate students with a compelling opportunity to conduct research and innovation at the forefront of the field.

She added that , have also acted as entrepreneurial role models, inspiring students “to want to follow that path.”

Urtasun, for her part, thanked Woodin and former U of T president Meric Gertler for their support.

“Since then, there are many faculty who have provided similar avenues for their students to not have to compromise between academia and industry — but do something that is better than either one of them alone.”

— Original story by Rahul Kalvapalle at

(Photo: Matthew Volpe)

More than two dozen startups and entrepreneurs from the University of Toronto community are recognized in first .

The online tech publication’s special issue aims to spotlight the “big swings” taken in tech and innovation in Canada.

Of the 85 tech players mentioned in the issue, nearly one third have a connection to U of T.

Among the people and companies recognized with ties to the ������Ƶ of Computer Science are:

• , the autonomous trucking company founded by Professor

• , the enterprise AI company launched by alumni Nick Frosst and Aidan Gomez; and former computer science student Ivan Zhang

• Associate Professor , founding member of

• Alumnus and Ilya Sutskever, co-founder of , and more recently,

“This list demonstrates just how integral U of T-affiliated companies are to Canada’s innovation landscape in crucial fields ranging from sustainability and space tech to health care and transportation,” says Leah Cowen, vice-president, research and innovation, and strategic initiatives.

“The university has long been committed to generating big ideas and game-changing research — and then providing the support necessary for ambitious entrepreneurs to move those discoveries out of the lab and into the world where they can have the most impact.”

With files from