You are currently viewing Uber Is Selling Its Self-Driving Car Business To Aurora Innovations
uber-confirms-hacking-incident-keeps-mum-on-data-leaks

Uber Is Selling Its Self-Driving Car Business To Aurora Innovations

  • Post author:
  • Post category:Uncategorized
  • Post comments:0 Comments

Uber is exiting its self-driving vehicle business and selling it to Aurora Innovations in a $4 billion deal. Aurora is a San Francisco-based startup founded by the former head engineer of Google’s self-driving car project.

 

Under the deal, Aurora’s self-driving cars will ultimately operate on Uber’s ride-hailing platform. Uber will invest $400 million in Aurora Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi will also join its board of directors. This will result in 26% share in Aurora taking the company’s value to $10 billion.

 

“Aurora has committed to making offers to the majority of ATG employees. We are working through the details with Aurora and will notify our teams in the coming weeks,” an Uber spokesperson said.

Also read:
– Uber, Lyft, Others Exempted From Reclassifying Drivers As Prop 22 Saves The Day
– Waymo Hides Behind Delivery To Deploy Its Self-Driving Vehicles Again
– Apple Is Working On New ARM-Based 32 Core Processors For Its High-End Computers

This deal brings Uber’s futuristic dream of replacing its fleet of human-powered taxis with robot drivers to an end. The ride-hailing start-up had hoped that investing millions of dollars into developing the self-driving technology, could help it eliminate its main cost factor, drivers. This would have given Uber room to provide cheaper transportation with its autonomous vehicles.

 

Uber’s venture so far has met with continuous disaster. Waymo sued the company for allegedly stealing the company’s trade secrets. The companies eventually made an out of court settlement, but Uber’s former star engineer and an ex-Googler, Anthony Levandowski, was got an 18 months sentence recently in jail for his involvement.

 

The death of Elaine Herzberg in March 2018 was also another disaster for its self-driving venture. Herzberg, a 49-year-old woman was struck and hit by a self-driving Uber vehicle while walking her bike across the street in Tempe, Arizona. It was likely the first recorded fatality by an autonomous vehicle.

 

Other details of the deal will emerge later but It’s unclear, for now, if it will result in any layoffs.

 

 

For your daily dose of tech, lifestyle, and trending content, make sure to follow Plat4om on Twitter @Plat4omLive, on Instagram @Plat4om, on LinkedIn at Plat4om, and on Facebook at Plat4om. You can also email us at info@plat4om.com and join our channel on Telegram at Plat4om. Finally, don’t forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel HERE.

Leave a Reply