Nuro, a developer of self-driving shuttles, has raised $500 million in funding to help grow the company’s autonomous goods delivery service.
The funding included participation from Fidelity Management & Research Company, T. Rowe Price Associates and Baillie Gifford as well as existing investors SoftBank Vision and Greylock.
Nuro designs electric self-driving vehicles for the transportation of goods that does not require any human driver. The company’s second-generation vehicle, called R2, has been used to deliver anything from groceries, medicine and retail products.
“We are witnessing an unprecedented shift in consumer demand for safe and affordable local delivery services,” said Jiajun Zhu, CEO and co-founder at Nuro. “This funding, which brings us together with many of the world’s top investors, positions Nuro confidently toward a future where our world-class technology is adopted into people’s everyday lives.”
This new funding follows Nuro’s previous $940 million worth of investments from previous series. The new capital will help push Nuro to accelerate the development of autonomous vehicles for delivery.
Two years ago, Kroger partnered with Nuro to deliver groceries through its self-driving, human-less shuttles. The company has also formed agreements with Domino’s, Walmart and CVS for similar delivery pilot projects. Additionally, the company has been granted by the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) and National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) an autonomous vehicle exemption allowing it to begin public road testing. So far, Nuro has pilot projects in California, Texas and Arizona without drivers or passengers.
