This Week In Startups is made possible by: IM8 Health: IM8health.com/TWIST [http://im8health.com/twist] Squarespace: Squarespace.com/TWIST [https://squarespace.com/twist] Render - Render.com/TWIST [http://render.com/twist] 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/ [http://wayve.ai/] Waabi: http://waabi.ai/ [http://waabi.ai/] Alex Kendall https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexgkendall/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexgkendall/] Raquel Uratsun: https://www.linkedin.com/in/raquel-urtasun-298400139/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/raquel-urtasun-298400139/] Company Links: Wayve's GAIA-2 world model: https://wayve.ai/thinking/gaia-2/ [https://wayve.ai/thinking/gaia-2/] Wayve's 500 city roadshow: https://wayve.ai/thinking/ai-500-roadshow-500-cities/ [https://wayve.ai/thinking/ai-500-roadshow-500-cities/] Wavye's most recent funding round: https://wayve.ai/press/series-d/ [https://wayve.ai/press/series-d/] Waybe + Uber: https://wayve.ai/press/wayve-nissan-uber-robotaxi-collaboration/ [https://wayve.ai/press/wayve-nissan-uber-robotaxi-collaboration/] Waabi closed-loop simulator: https://waabi.ai/insights/waabi-world [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 [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 [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? 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