Startup Nuro Lands Investment from Google in US$600 million Round
Home > Automotive > Article

Startup Nuro Lands Investment from Google in US$600 million Round

Photo by:   Nuro
Share it!
Antonio Gozain By Antonio Gozain | Senior Journalist and Industry Analyst - Thu, 11/04/2021 - 16:10

Self-driving delivery vehicle maker Nuro raised US$600 million in its series D funding round, reported Reuters. During the round led by Tiger Global Management, the Silicon Valley-based startup brought Alphabet Inc’s Google as an investor.

Nuro’s R2 vehicle is a driver-less, passenger-less robot designed to deliver all kinds of products, from groceries or prescription drugs to hot food and other locally sourced goods. “With its specially designed size, weight, pedestrian-protecting front end, operating speed, electric propulsion and cautious driving habits, R2 is ready to begin service as a socially responsible neighborhood vehicle,” reads Nuro’s webpage.

The funding round lifted Nuro’s valuation from US$5 billion to US$8.6 billion, said a person close to the deal to Reuters. Other investors included Toyota Motor Corporation, Woven Capital, SoftBank Group Corporation, Vision Fund 1 and Kroger, among others.

Nuro’s custom autonomous delivery vehicles are designed to drive in neighborhoods. “They prioritize the safety of others,” says the company, because they only carry goods and are designed to prioritize to care for people on the roads. R2 is one of the most commercially and technically mature autonomous vehicles in the world, says Nuro: “We have partnered with leading retail brands and are continuously testing our fleet for the benefit of customers, businesses, and communities.”

Autonomous driving startups are in a race to build war chests to continue developing their technology, which is considerably expensive. Previously, Alphabet’s self-driving vehicle Waymo raised US$2.5 billion in fundings. “There is no greater challenge in artificial intelligence than building and deploying fully autonomous technology at scale," said Dmitri Dolgov and Tekedra Mawakana, Waymo’s co-CEOs.

Waymo has been “widely viewed” as the leader in the autonomous driving race; however, full and safe automation remain a big challenge, in addition to rivals being backed by automakers. Nuro’s R2 was granted the first autonomous vehicle exemption from the US Department of Transportation and National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, “as well as the first commercial deployment permit in the state of California.”

Nuro’s connection with Waymo begins with its founders. Dave Ferguson and Jiajun Zhu, both worked on Google’s autonomous vehicle before creating Nuro, reported Reuters. The self-driving company operates in Mountain View in California, Houston in Texas and Phoenix in Arizona, with Domino’s, Walmart and Kroger as partners.

Nuro also announced a five-year partnership with Google Cloud “to support self-driving simulation and data management.” Google Cloud said it is aiming to transform local commerce together with the autonomous vehicle maker.

Photo by:   Nuro

You May Like

Most popular

Newsletter