Uber has channelled close to $500m into autonomous vehicle startup Nuro through a mix of direct investments and milestone-linked funding arrangements, Reuters reported citing unnamed sources.
Nuro, which counts Nvidia and SoftBank among its backers, is party to a three-way agreement with Uber and electric vehicle manufacturer Lucid, aimed at putting 35,000 robotaxis on the road.
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The planned fleet would run on Lucid Gravity SUVs and future midsize models, equipped with Nuro’s autonomous driving software and operating through Uber’s ride-hailing network.
Uber had previously disclosed a $500m stake in Lucid alongside a planned multi-hundred-million-dollar commitment to Nuro, which included participation in a $203m funding round that placed Nuro’s valuation at $6bn.
Reuters reported that Uber subsequently made a follow-on investment in Nuro considerably larger than its initial outlay and separately agreed to release further funds contingent on Nuro hitting defined development and commercial targets.
Sources cited in the report indicated that the first set of milestones has been met on schedule, unlocking an initial tranche of that performance-linked capital.
Outstanding payments are tied to benchmarks that include driverless testing later this year, fully autonomous passenger operations before year-end, and broader service expansion in 2027.
For Nuro, the capital injection supports its push to bring autonomous driving technology to commercial scale.
The company originally focused on small delivery robots before pivoting in 2024 towards licensing its self-driving software to vehicle manufacturers and mobility operators.
It is currently running tests with safety drivers in preparation for a launch in the San Francisco Bay Area later this year.
In April, Nuro secured a California permit to test autonomous Lucid Gravity vehicles without a safety driver across selected counties and received authorisation in May to carry passengers in supervised testing.
Beyond its Nuro and Lucid ties, Uber has formed autonomous vehicle partnerships with Baidu, Rivian and Wayve, and collaborates with Waymo across selected US cities.
