Raquel Urtasun, a professor in the University of Toronto's Department of Computer Science, has been elected a Fellow of the Royal Society, the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences and one of the world's oldest scientific institutions.

Considered one of the highest honours in science, the Fellowship is a lifetime appointment whose past holders include Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin, Albert Einstein and Stephen Hawking. Urtasun is among more than 90 researchers from across the globe named to this year's cohort, announced May 27.

"Their contributions reflect the highest standards of scientific endeavour," Sir Paul Nurse, president of the Royal Society, said in a statement. "Whether advancing our understanding of vaccines or exploring the transformative potential of mathematics and computation, their work exemplifies the enduring value of curiosity, creativity and rigorous inquiry."

A leading expert in artificial intelligence, Urtasun is the founder and CEO of Waabi, the Toronto-based autonomous driving company she launched in 2021, and a co-founder of the Vector Institute for Artificial Intelligence. Her research spans machine learning, computer vision and robotics, with a focus on generative AI for the physical world and the next generation of self-driving technology.

“Raquel has fundamentally shaped how machines perceive and reason about the physical world, and she has done so while building one of the most ambitious AI companies in Canada,” said Eyal de Lara, professor and chair of the Department of Computer Science.

“The Royal Society's recognition reflects both the depth of that scholarship and the conviction with which she has translated it into real-world impact.”

Urtasun joined U of T in 2014 after earning her PhD at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne and completing postdoctoral work at MIT and the University of California, Berkeley. Over her career, she has published more than 200 papers and is named on more than 100 patents in autonomous driving. Her honours include the NSERC E.W.R. Steacie Memorial Fellowship, the Longuet-Higgins Prize, the Everingham Prize and multiple best paper awards at the Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition. She was named to TIME's list of the 100 Most Influential People in AI in 2023 and a CNBC Changemaker in 2024.

In 2024, Urtasun was also elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and appointed to the Order of Ontario, the province's highest civilian honour.

Waabi has raised hundreds of millions of dollars in venture financing to develop and deploy fully autonomous trucks, with the most recent round reportedly valuing the company at up to US$1 billion. Urtasun has said her ambition is to make Canada the global leader in AI for the physical world.

Founded in 1660, the Royal Society elects new Fellows each year in recognition of substantial contributions to the advancement of science.