By using Waabi World to design and test numerous sensor configurations, this dynamic team will be able to rapidly and safely build road-ready trucks
A few months back, we unveiled Waabi World, our revolutionary closed-loop simulator, which inspired the industry to rethink the safest and most effective way to approach the development of autonomous vehicles. Today, we are introducing our hardware leadership team who will leverage Waabi World to rapidly and safely design and build road-ready hardware, turning the typical industry approach on its head.
The state of hardware development today reflects many of the challenges facing the entire industry. In the self-driving world, it is typical for companies to invest heavily in multiple, time-consuming generations of hardware to validate their algorithms. This approach is cost-intensive, disjointed and inefficient as hardware and software teams are attempting to develop solutions asynchronously. Oftentimes, more than a year can pass between new sensor configurations being designed, built, and then validated and it’s not uncommon for teams to discover that incorrect assumptions and siloed team development led to missed opportunities.
At Waabi, hardware and software are fully integrated from Day 1. Our approach allows for faster development of self-driving vehicles by enabling continuous validation within Waabi World. This high fidelity, closed-loop simulator, is able to perform near real-time sensor simulation enabling testing of the entire software stack in an immersive and reactive manner. Waabi World achieves this by simulating how the Waabi Driver would observe or “see” the virtual world through its sensors, just like how it would see the real world.
This means that in Waabi World, numerous sensor configurations (and new sensors) can be designed and validated rapidly. We can teach the Waabi Driver how to use them before they even exist in the real world, ultimately allowing us to rapidly design and build hardware that is more reliable and road-ready. This is a radically different way of approaching hardware in an industry where trial and error typically plays out over many months—if not longer — and will lead to much faster, safer, and cost-effective development of self-driving trucks.
Of course, this innovative approach to self-driving hardware would not be feasible without the best and brightest minds in the industry. Drawing on decades of collective experience from major AV companies like Tesla, Apple, Uber ATG, and Aurora, our hardware leadership team has deep expertise in production level integration across multiple commercial vehicle platforms including Peterbilt, Volvo and International trucks platforms.
Eyal Cohen, Head of Hardware: Eyal has nearly 20 years of experience leading green-field projects in the automotive and autonomous vehicle space, both as an engineer and an entrepreneur. Early in his career, he helped bring the Mission R to life – a world renowned electric motorcycle with multiple land-speed records. He was an early team member at Apple’s Special Project Group, and part of the team that completed Otto’s historic 200-mile driverless Budweiser beer delivery. As Director of Engineering, he was deeply involved in UberATG’s autonomous trucking program, and specializes in the integration of robust hardware with advanced software.
Jorah Wyer, Hardware Technical Program Manager: Jorah brings over 20 years of industry experience to Waabi, excelling in roles with startups and established companies alike. He has developed key technology on autonomous vehicle program technology at Apple and UberATG. At Ike Robotics, he led the hardware team and aided in developing a systems-safety strategy that has been largely adopted by the industry. Jorah brings deep partnership experience with both Tier1 suppliers and OEMs, and will lead hardware program efforts at Waabi.
JD Wagner, Integration Lead: JD Wagner is one of the breakout hardware engineers of the AV industry. With 10+ years of experience, he has led integration efforts across vehicle programs with lauded hardware designs spanning passenger cars and trucking. At UberATG, he led integration on multiple production-level programs. His most recent role was at Aurora, where he led a large team integrating trucks. He brings to the team deep experience in sensor integration, mechanical design, and robustness.
Paul Spriesterbach, System Engineering Lead: Paul leads Waabi’s System Engineering efforts, bringing 10 years of industry experience in aerospace, unmanned and autonomous vehicles. Paul’s expertise in autonomous vehicle verification and validation, honed at UberATG and Aurora, pair him perfectly with Waabi’s new approach to autonomous vehicle technology.
With this leadership team, and this new approach to self-driving hardware and truck platforms, we’re on a clear path to bringing a scalable, cost-efficient and safe autonomous solution to the market.
We’re excited to share more from this team over the coming months.
“In my nearly 20 years as an engineer—including more than a decade in the autonomous vehicles industry—I have never been more energized about the future of self-driving vehicles than I am right now. Waabi’s unique approach to hardware solves core challenges that have stalled the industry for more than a decade and truly offers a pathway to rapid and safe commercialization of self-driving trucks. I am thrilled to be joining the team as Waabi’s Head of Hardware and consider it the opportunity of a lifetime to work alongside such incredible visionaries and technologists.”
Eyal Cohen, Head of Hardware.
