Latest news with #LiorRon
Techday NZ
2 days ago
- Automotive
- Techday NZ
Lior Ron joins Waabi for driverless trucks expansion
Waabi has announced that Lior Ron will join the company as Chief Operating Officer. This appointment is regarded as a significant step as Waabi moves towards scaling its operations and preparing to launch fully driverless trucks later in the year. Lior Ron brings extensive experience in technology and logistics, having served as Founder and Chief Executive Officer at Uber Freight for the past decade. In that role, Ron led the company from its foundation to a logistics platform with annual revenue exceeding USD $5 billion, providing services to one in three Fortune 500 shippers. His background in the construction of a large-scale, multi-modal freight network is viewed as complementary to Waabi's approach to autonomous trucking. Ron's appointment is expected to support Waabi's commercial objectives as it transitions from technology development to market adoption in the trucking sector. In his new role, Ron will focus on shaping the company's commercial strategy and expanding strategic partnerships, drawing on his operational experience and industry knowledge. "After years of focused development, it is clear that the moment of autonomous trucks has decisively arrived and that this technology, which will drive profound societal change, is ready for commercial prime time. With an unparalleled development advantage and a product that is scalable, cost efficient and safe, Waabi is uniquely positioned to lead in this next era," said Lior Ron. "I'm thrilled to join Waabi's world-class team at this pivotal moment to help drive the future of autonomous logistics and deliver its immense value to the world." Waabi's Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Raquel Urtasun, commented on Ron's hire, emphasising his combined experience in technical and operational leadership. "Waabi is entering a pivotal new phase as we transition from pioneering our technology to driving commercial adoption in the trucking industry. Lior brings that rare combination of technical expertise, deep industry knowledge, and proven execution - he truly understands the nuances, challenges, and opportunities within trucking, and how breakthrough technology can unlock the industry's full potential," said Raquel Urtasun. "As a leader who has scaled an end-to-end logistics platform from founding to billions of dollars of annual revenue, he will be an invaluable addition to our executive team, enabling us to accelerate our commercialization at scale and bring our autonomous solutions to market in a way that creates real value for our customers and partners." Waabi has recently achieved several milestones, including a strategic partnership with Volvo Autonomous Solutions for the joint development and deployment of autonomous trucks. The company has also announced technical advancements, such as achieving a simulation realism score of 99.7% for Waabi World, its neural simulator, and the introduction of Mixed Reality Testing, an alternative to closed-course testing. These achievements are described as enabling quicker and more capital-efficient development, supporting feature-complete autonomous driving capabilities. Commercially, Waabi has expanded its presence in the logistics sector through a partnership with Uber Freight, launched in 2023. The two companies have been running regular commercial loads between Dallas and Houston, committing to ongoing expansion and operational integration to demonstrate the practicality and impact of autonomous trucking for shippers and carriers. The company is supported by a range of investors from the technology, automotive, and logistics sectors, and continues to focus on advancing the adoption of its autonomous trucking technology. Follow us on: Share on:
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Rebecca Tinucci named CEO of Uber Freight
Uber Freight announced Tuesday the appointment of Rebecca Tinucci as chief executive officer. Tinucci succeeds founder and chief executive officer Lior Ron, who will become chairman while also taking on a new role as chief operating officer of Waabi, an autonomous trucking technology company. Uber is a major investor in Waabi, with the release noting its continued commitment to innovation across logistics and autonomous technologies. Tinucci brings extensive experience from Tesla, where she served as the senior director of charging infrastructure. In her previous role at Tesla, she transformed the global charging organization into a profitable multi-billion-dollar business and led industry-wide collaborations that established North American standards for electric vehicle infrastructure. Most recently at Uber, she spearheaded the company's global electrification strategy, developing partnerships across energy and mobility sectors to advance zero-emission goals. 'Uber Freight has built something truly special — a platform that changes the game for shippers, carriers, and the entire industry,' said Tinucci in a press release. 'I couldn't be more excited to roll up my sleeves with this team to keep raising the bar for our customers and showing the market what's next.' Under Ron's nine-year leadership, Uber Freight evolved from a startup within Uber to a global logistics platform managing over $20 billion in freight under management. The company developed multiple products including Uber Freight TMS, Exchange, Powerloop, and the recently launched Insights AI. 'Uber Freight was born from my belief that logistics could be radically transformed through technology,' said Ron. 'Rebecca is a proven leader who brings strong operational chops, customer empathy, and platform thinking. I'm thrilled to support her as she takes the helm for Uber Freight's next chapter.' Through Uber Freight's managed transportation services, the company serves one in three Fortune 500 companies, including Colgate, Nestlé, and Anheuser-Busch InBev. Tinucci will make her first public appearance as CEO at Deliver 2025, Uber Freight's flagship customer event scheduled for September. The post Rebecca Tinucci named CEO of Uber Freight appeared first on FreightWaves.
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Waabi appoints Lior Ron as COO amid commercial push
Waabi has announced the appointment of former Uber Freight CEO Lior Ron as the company's chief operating officer. The appointment comes as Waabi prepares for a driver-out milestone by the end of the year, followed by a commercial launch and scaling operations with major partners including Volvo and Uber Freight. 'This really signifies that Waabi is moving from the R&D phase that we were in into commercialization and scale,' Waabi's founder and CEO Raquel Urtasun told FreightWaves in an interview. 'And there is no other leader that I could think of that would be better suited to partner with in this new journey of the company.' The transition is part of a broader industry shift from digital logistics solutions to physical autonomous applications. 'I think of my first decade in logistics with Uber Freight as building the digital infrastructure of the industry, and helping build that. The next decade is going to be about building the autonomy infrastructure of the industry and making that a commercial reality,' Lior Ron told FreightWaves. During Ron's tenure at Uber Freight, he served as founder and CEO, growing the company into an end-to-end logistics platform generating over $5 billion in annual revenue. In his new role at Waabi, Ron will focus on go-to-market strategy, scaling existing partnerships, and bringing new collaborations to the company's portfolio. 'I think for me, it really starts from the deep belief that autonomy is here and the technology is ready, and it's time to scale,' Ron told FreightWaves. 'It's time to actually make this a commercial reality, a solution reality, a supply chain reality that will fundamentally alter the shape of supply chain and logistics over the next decade.' Uber Freight is both a partner and investor in Waabi. 'Uber Freight is a big partner of Waabi. No changes there. We're looking forward to continuing to scale the Waabi driver on the Uber Freight network, and we see a lot of opportunities to continue that collaboration. So this is definitely sort of done in coordination, but it's also a personal choice of mine, because, as I articulated, it's something that I fundamentally believe is the future,' Ron added. Urtasun added, 'We have a partnership with Uber Freight that will continue full steam ahead as well. We'll go to market. It's more than Uber Freight—you know, direct-to-customer is important for us as well. But we fundamentally believe that Uber Freight is a great partner in our future.' The appointment follows several major Waabi milestones, including a strategic partnership with Volvo Autonomous Solutions and technical breakthroughs in simulation technology. Waabi World, the company's neural simulator, recently achieved a 99.7% simulation realism score, while the company also unveiled Mixed Reality Testing as an alternative to closed-course testing. For the team at Waabi, the timing could not have been better, as both OEMs and autonomous technology companies appear to be converging on timelines for mass production and commercialization over the next two years. The next challenge, and one Ron hopes to tackle, is turning that technology into an operational reality. 'The time to engage on that is now, because that technology is ready. Autonomy is ready for prime time. Driver-out soon. Truck OEMs are ready, and they're all making their own plans on when they're going to start mass production, but it's going to be in the foreseeable near future. So if you're looking at a 12- to 24-month purchasing decision cycle in logistics by big shippers and big carriers,' said Ron. The post Waabi appoints Lior Ron as COO amid commercial push appeared first on FreightWaves. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Uber Freight CEO Lior Ron leaves to join self-driving startup Waabi as COO
Self-driving truck maker Waabi has hired autonomous vehicle industry veteran and Uber Freight CEO, Lior Ron, to step in as chief operating officer, as the startup looks to scale its commercial operations ahead of its planned launch of driverless trucks on public highways later this year. Rebecca Tinucci, who previously spent six years building Tesla's charging network before the automaker gutted its charging staff last year, will take over as head of Uber Freight. Ron will stay on as Uber Freight's chairman. '[Ron] will lead the go-to-market strategy, expanding key partnerships, and really bringing Waabi from the phase that we've been in to commercialization at scale,' Raquel Urtasun, Waabi's founder and CEO, told TechCrunch. 'He has shown his ability to scale from inception to a $5 billion revenue company with Uber Freight.' Urtasun and Ron go way back: Ron previously co-founded self-driving truck company Otto, which Uber acquired in 2016. He overlapped with Urtasun at Uber, where the latter was chief scientist, leading the ride-hail firm's self-driving research from 2017 to 2021. Uber Freight is a digital marketplace connecting shippers with carriers, and the company aims to integrate self-driving trucks with the platform via partnerships with startups like Aurora Innovation and Waabi. Uber's partnership with Waabi isn't affected by Ron's departure, he said. While working at Uber Freight, Ron says, he met regularly with chief supply chain officers and big carriers that he said 'could not wait' for self-driving trucks. 'If the most impactful thing to do in the next decade is autonomy, and if the timing is right, then for me it's really about joining forces with who I think is most positioned to lead the transformation,' he added. Urtasun claims Waabi's 'AI-first' approach to scaling autonomy has allowed it to do more with fewer resources and in less time than competitors. Given this is a capital-intensive industry that's seen several promising startups, like TuSimple and Embark, crash and burn, efficiency can be a major advantage. Since it was founded in 2021, Waabi has raised $287.7 million in total, the bulk of which came from a $200 million Series B in 2024. Urtasun claims the company doesn't need to raise more to get to its next phase of growth. The startup's chief competitor is Aurora, which this year launched the first commercial driverless trucking route in the U.S., and has raised nearly $3.46 billion through a combination of venture capital and its public listing. Waabi has managed to launch commercial pilots quickly because it does most training, testing, and validation in Waabi World, its closed-loop simulator that both virtually tests the self-driving software and teaches it in real time. More recently, Waabi took its simulator to the test track, overlaying virtual environments onto real-world driving conditions to simulate scenarios like accidents and construction zones without the actual risk, according to Urtasun. 'At the beginning of the year, we reached feature complete, which basically means we have all the necessary things to remove the driver and [are focused] on the final performance improvement and validation,' Urtasun said. 'We are on track for our driverless launch by the end of the year, which is the start of commercialization.' The startup plans to launch in Texas, which has become the autonomous freight capital of the U.S., but it hasn't yet disclosed which routes it'll operate on or with which launch partners. The startup is working with Volvo Autonomous Solutions to develop and deploy custom-built AVs. 'Waabi will lead the technology and it will scale autonomy faster than ever expected,' Ron said, adding that he's excited with the prospect of integrating the technology into the customers' operations. Part of that is a feature that would enable Waabi's trucks to drive straight to customer depots, avoiding the need to build terminals for a hybrid setup. 'We're going to create a commercial-ready solution that can really meet them,' Ron said. Error while retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data
TechCrunch
4 days ago
- Automotive
- TechCrunch
Uber Freight CEO Lior Ron leaves to join self-driving startup Waabi as COO
Self-driving truck maker Waabi has hired autonomous vehicle industry veteran and Uber Freight CEO, Lior Ron, to step in as chief operating officer, as the startup looks to scale its commercial operations ahead of its planned launch of driverless trucks on public highways later this year. Rebecca Tinucci, who previously spent six years building Tesla's charging network before the automaker gutted its charging staff last year, will take over as head of Uber Freight. Ron will stay on as Uber Freight's chairman. '[Ron] will lead the go-to-market strategy, expanding key partnerships, and really bringing Waabi from the phase that we've been in to commercialization at scale,' Raquel Urtasun, Waabi's founder and CEO, told TechCrunch. 'He has shown his ability to scale from inception to a $5 billion revenue company with Uber Freight.' Urtasun and Ron go way back: Ron previously co-founded self-driving truck company Otto, which Uber acquired in 2016. He overlapped with Urtasun at Uber, where the latter was chief scientist, leading the ride-hail firm's self-driving research from 2017 to 2021. Uber Freight is a digital marketplace connecting shippers with carriers, and the company aims to integrate self-driving trucks with the platform via partnerships with startups like Aurora Innovation and Waabi. Uber's partnership with Waabi isn't affected by Ron's departure, he said. While working at Uber Freight, Ron says, he met regularly with chief supply chain officers and big carriers that he said 'could not wait' for self-driving trucks. 'If the most impactful thing to do in the next decade is autonomy, and if the timing is right, then for me it's really about joining forces with who I think is most positioned to lead the transformation,' he added. Techcrunch event Tech and VC heavyweights join the Disrupt 2025 agenda Netflix, ElevenLabs, Wayve, Sequoia Capital, Elad Gil — just a few of the heavy hitters joining the Disrupt 2025 agenda. They're here to deliver the insights that fuel startup growth and sharpen your edge. Don't miss the 20th anniversary of TechCrunch Disrupt, and a chance to learn from the top voices in tech — grab your ticket now and save up to $600+ before prices rise. Tech and VC heavyweights join the Disrupt 2025 agenda Netflix, ElevenLabs, Wayve, Sequoia Capital — just a few of the heavy hitters joining the Disrupt 2025 agenda. They're here to deliver the insights that fuel startup growth and sharpen your edge. Don't miss the 20th anniversary of TechCrunch Disrupt, and a chance to learn from the top voices in tech — grab your ticket now and save up to $675 before prices rise. San Francisco | REGISTER NOW Urtasun claims Waabi's 'AI-first' approach to scaling autonomy has allowed it to do more with fewer resources and in less time than competitors. Given this is a capital-intensive industry that's seen several promising startups, like TuSimple and Embark, crash and burn, efficiency can be a major advantage. Since it was founded in 2021, Waabi has raised $287.7 million in total, the bulk of which came from a $200 million Series B in 2024. Urtasun claims the company doesn't need to raise more to get to its next phase of growth. The startup's chief competitor is Aurora, which this year launched the first commercial driverless trucking route in the U.S., and has raised nearly $3.46 billion through a combination of venture capital and its public listing. Waabi has managed to launch commercial pilots quickly because it does most training, testing, and validation in Waabi World, its closed-loop simulator that both virtually tests the self-driving software and teaches it in real time. More recently, Waabi took its simulator to the test track, overlaying virtual environments onto real-world driving conditions to simulate scenarios like accidents and construction zones without the actual risk, according to Urtasun. 'At the beginning of the year, we reached feature complete, which basically means we have all the necessary things to remove the driver and [are focused] on the final performance improvement and validation,' Urtasun said. 'We are on track for our driverless launch by the end of the year, which is the start of commercialization.' The startup plans to launch in Texas, which has become the autonomous freight capital of the U.S., but it hasn't yet disclosed which routes it'll operate on or with which launch partners. The startup is working with Volvo Autonomous Solutions to develop and deploy custom-built AVs. 'Waabi will lead the technology and it will scale autonomy faster than ever expected,' Ron said, adding that he's excited with the prospect of integrating the technology into the customers' operations. Part of that is a feature that would enable Waabi's trucks to drive straight to customer depots, avoiding the need to build terminals for a hybrid setup. 'We're going to create a commercial-ready solution that can really meet them,' Ron said.
