Nuro Inc., an autonomous driving startup, announced today the successful completion of a $97 million funding round to accelerate its commercialization efforts.
This investment round was led by NVIDIA Corporation, Uber Technologies, Baillie Gifford, and other institutional investors. It represents part of Nuro's previously announced $106 million Series E financing in April. The Mountain View, California-based company currently holds a valuation of $6 billion.
Nuro's flagship product consists of a vehicle-mounted hardware module that enables autonomous capabilities through its Nuro Driver system. This system utilizes NVIDIA's AGX Thor automotive chip, which integrates Blackwell GPUs, central processing units, and modules optimized for processing vehicle camera imagery.
The Nuro Driver platform combines AGX Thor with lidar sensors, radar systems, and cameras. It also includes an inertial measurement unit that tracks vehicle acceleration data. According to Nuro, certain configurations feature 30 total sensors integrated into the autonomous vehicle system.
Prior to deploying autonomous vehicles in new locations, the company preloads detailed maps to facilitate navigation. The Nuro Driver continuously updates these maps using real-time data collected through its sensor array during operations, including changes to traffic control conditions.
Nuro leverages collected road data to enhance its cloud-based simulation platform. This software plays a critical role in training the company's autonomous driving algorithms by creating virtual environments that replicate real-world traffic scenarios and technical challenges.
Uber's latest investment comes just weeks after Nuro established its partnership with the ride-hailing giant. As part of this collaboration, Uber plans to deploy up to 20,000 autonomous taxis via its app using Nuro Driver technology installed at the manufacturing stage.
Uber has committed $300 million to Lucid Group Inc. for producing these autonomous vehicles. Reports previously indicated Uber was considering a second, larger investment in Nuro.
"With this new capital infusion, we're well-positioned to advance our next growth phase focused on delivering new commercial partnerships to achieve global automation," stated Dave Ferguson, Nuro's co-founder and president.
Uber will launch its first fleet of Nuro-powered autonomous vehicles in a major U.S. city in 2025. These vehicles will be based on Lucid Group's Gravity SUV model, offering a 450-mile range per charge. Uber aims to expand its autonomous taxi service to dozens of additional markets within the coming years.
