Aurora also has a new strategic partnership with Paccar Inc., one of the largest manufacturers of medium- and heavy-duty trucks in the world.
By Cromwell Schubarth
Aurora Innovation Inc. completed one big deal and announced another on Tuesday.
The Mountain View-based self-driving tech unicorn has more than 1,600 employees at eight locations now that it has closed its acquisition of Uber’s Advanced Technology Group in a deal that reportedly valued the unit at about $4 billion.
That purchase was announced about six weeks ago in a deal in which Uber (NYSE: UBER) invested about $400 million in Aurora and got as 26% stake in the business.
Aurora also has a new strategic partnership with Paccar Inc., one of the largest manufacturers of medium- and heavy-duty trucks in the world. Aurora has tested its autonomous vehicle tech on Paccar trucks but now said the companies’ engineering teams are combining for an “accelerated development program” aimed at making driverless-capable trucks beginning with the Peterbilt 479 and the Kenworth T680.
“At Aurora, we’re accelerating the automated vehicle space with the expertise and experience to develop our technology, our path to several markets and our resources to deliver,” founder and CEO Chris Urmson, who previously led Google’s self-driving unit before it was spun out as Waymo, said in a blog.
“With Paccar, Uber and the relationships we continue to build and strengthen, we have the momentum, power, and clarity to realize our mission, and build the technology and products the world needs to make transportation and logistics safer and more accessible.”
He said the company is setting up more than 600 companywide “coffee chats” in which every Aurora employee will be paired with one from ATG “to welcome them to the company.”
Aurora until now has operated from offices in Palo Alto, San Francisco, Pittsburgh, Dallas, and Bozeman, Montana. It is in the process of moving its Silicon Valley headquarters from Embarcadero Road in Palo Alto to 280 North Bernardo Road in Mountain View. With the Uber acquisition, it is adding locations in Seattle, Louiseville, Colorado (near Boulder) and Wixom, Michigan (near Detroit).
Sterling Anderson, Aurora’s co-founder and chief product officer who was previously in charge of Tesla Inc.’s Autopilot development, said the Uber acquisition and Paccar partnership positions his company, which was founded in 2016, as a leader in autonomous vehicles.
“While Aurora as a company has not been a part of this industry as long as others, our people have,” he said in a blog. “And when experienced people get a fresh start with next-generation technology, it can be difficult to match their speed.”
The company is now reportedly valued at about $10 billion, up about the $3.1 billion it was estimated to be worth after a September 2019 funding from Hyundai, Kia Motors and Millennium Technology Value Partners. With the Uber investment, it has now raised a total more than $1 billion in funding.
Originally published at The business journal