Uber is selling its self-driving car business to Aurora as it races to turn a profit amid the pandemic
Uber
- Uber announced on Monday that it's selling its self-driving car unit to the startup Aurora.
- Uber will also invest $400 million into the company as part of the deal.
- Earlier this year, Uber made a similar move by offloading JUMP Bikes to Lime as part of an investment in the startup.
- No pricetag was disclosed for the self-driving deal.
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The self-driving startup Aurora is buying Uber's "advanced technologies group," the companies announced Monday, as the ride-hailing giant continues to grapple with a pandemic downturn in its core taxi business.
As part of the deal, Uber will also invest $400 million in Aurora in a move similar to when it off-loaded JUMP bikes to Lime while taking a stake in the company. Aurora and Uber didn't disclose a total price tag for the deal.
Self-driving is notoriously expensive when it comes to research and development. In 2019, Uber's ATG brought in $42 million of revenue, but ultimately contributed to about $500 million of EBITDA losses. Uber also turned to outside investors last year to shore up the unit's finances, selling a $1 billion stake to Toyota, SoftBank and others.
"Few technologies hold as much promise to improve people's lives with safe, accessible, and environmentally friendly transportation as self-driving vehicles," Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi, who is joining Aurora's board as part of the acquisition, said in a press release.
"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," he continued.
Uber has also been in unconfirmed talks to sell Elevate, its flying taxi project, to Joby Aviation in a separate deal, Axios reported last week.
Uber shelled out heavily to branch into new markets during the pandemic amid its disastrous effect on Uber's core ride-hailing business. It bought Postmates this year in a deal worth $2.65 billion, and Latin American grocery-delivery firm Cornershop.
Investors have applauded the moves, sending shares of Uber up more than 73% this year, surpassing its initial IPO trades to outperform benchmark market indices.