Uber Technologies sold its self-driving car division to Aurora Innovation and took a stake in the start-up, pulling back from its vision for a fleet of autonomous taxis to focus on turning a quarterly profit next year after the pandemic crushed revenue, reported TechCrunch. The deal valued Aurora at US$10 billion, according to people familiar with the talks who asked not to be identified discussing private information. In exchange for investing US$400 million in Aurora, Uber will get a 26% ownership stake in the company.
That number increases to 40% when counting the stakes held by the employees and investors of Uber’s autonomous driving division.
The price tag is a comedown for Uber, whose self-driving division, Advanced Technologies Group (ATG), raised money last year at a US$7.25 billion valuation. The agreement with Aurora values the unit at just US$4 billion, following Uber’s investment. The deal, expected to close during the first quarter, also guarantees that when Aurora releases its self-driving vehicles, they will launch on Uber’s network.
