Aurora To Acquire Uber’s Self-Driving Unit

Aurora, a technology company founded in 2017 to serve the self-driving vehicle market, has announced it will acquire Uber’s self-driving business unit, Advanced Technologies Group (ATG). Aurora said ATG’s team and technology will accelerate the delivery of its first product, Aurora Driver.

“By adding the people and technology of Uber’s Advanced Technologies Group to the incredible group we’ve already assembled at Aurora, we’re shifting the landscape of the automated vehicle space,” said Chris Urmson, co-founder and CEO of Aurora. “With the addition of ATG, Aurora will have an incredibly strong team and technology, a clear path to several markets, and the resources to deliver. Simply put, Aurora will be the company best positioned to deliver the self-driving products necessary to make transportation and logistics safer, more accessible, and less expensive.”

Aurora said ATG will strengthen and accelerate the first Aurora Driver applications for heavy-duty trucks while allowing it to accelerate work on light-vehicle products.

Aurora also announced a strategic partnership with Uber to connect its technology to the ride-hailing platform. Uber will invest $400 million in Aurora and Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi will join Aurora’s board.

The company said it will first deliver its product in the truck market, and that its relationship with Uber will position it as a player in both autonomous trucking and passenger mobility.

“Few technologies hold as much promise to improve people’s lives with safe, accessible, and environmentally friendly transportation as self-driving vehicles. For the last five years, our phenomenal team at ATG has been at the forefront of this effort—and in joining forces with Aurora, they are now in pole position to deliver on that promise even faster,” said Khosrowshahi. “I’m looking forward to working with Chris, and to bringing the Aurora Driver to the Uber network in the years ahead.”

Uber’s ride-sharing business has been battered by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Based in Mountain View, Calif., members of Aurora’s leadership team formerly worked at Google, Tesla and Uber. The Aurora Driver platform combines software, hardware and data services to operate passenger vehicles, light commercial vehicles and heavy-duty trucks across a range of applications. The company tests its vehicles in the San Francisco Bay Area, Pittsburgh and Dallas.