Nvidia Invests in Nuro's Self-Driving Tech with $203M Funding Round
So, here's the deal: Nuro, the company working on self-driving tech for deliveries and ride-hailing, just got a serious cash injection. We're talking a cool $203 million in a funding round. And guess who's among the new backers? None other than Nvidia!
It's not just Nvidia throwing money at Nuro, though. Existing investors like Baillie Gifford chipped in, and other new players like Icehouse Ventures and Kindred Ventures joined the party. Even Uber, fresh off its deal with Lucid, is getting in on the action. I think it's a great move for all of them.
Why Nvidia?
This isn't some random investment. Nvidia and Nuro have been working together for years. Nuro uses Nvidia's GPUs for all that heavy-duty data crunching and training those self-driving models. Their latest setup even runs on Nvidia's Drive AGX Thor platform. When you think about it, it's a pretty natural fit. I mean, you have to admire how Nuro is using new technology to make our lives better.
Now, it's worth noting that Nuro's valuation isn't quite what it used to be. They're valued at $6 billion now, which is a drop from the $8.6 billion they were worth back in 2021. That's largely due to the fact that the market in general cooled down a bit.
However, Nuro had to adapt. They shifted from wanting to own and manage their own delivery bots and are now focusing on licensing their tech to other companies, like automakers and ride-hailing services. I belive that was a smart move from them, and with these new partnerships, Nuro seems ready for the next phase.
Uber's planning to roll out a robotaxi service using Lucid Gravity SUVs equipped with Nuro's tech. It's an interesting development. Uber is investing a lot in Lucid and buying a ton of their SUVs. As part of that agreement, Uber said that would invest a multi-hundred-million dollar amount into Nuro.
Ultimately, this funding seems like a solid vote of confidence in Nuro's new direction. With Nvidia's backing and Uber's partnership, Nuro's in a pretty good spot to keep pushing the boundaries of self-driving technology.
Source: TechCrunch