Aurora is to merge with acquisition firm Reinvent Technology Partners to form Aurora Innovation in a bid to commercialise its autonomous vehicle (AV) technology.
Aurora partners and investors such as Baille Gifford and Index Ventures have committed $1 billion and the proposed transaction represents a value of $11bn for the AV firm.
Chris Urmson, Aurora co-founder, says: “Our goal at Aurora is to make the movement of goods and people more equitable, productive, dependable, and — crucially — much safer than it is today. By combining with Reinvent and with this incredible group of investors, we are even closer to deploying self-driving vehicles and delivering the benefits this technology offers the world.”
Reinvent co-founder Mark Pincus says: “We believe Aurora will be the first to commercialise self-driving technology at scale for the US trucking and passenger transportation markets based on its industry-leading team, technology and partnerships.”
Aurora expects to launch first in the $700bn trucking market in late 2023. It also wants to expand into ride-hailing and last-mile delivery.
The company says its Aurora Driver autonomous driver system can address opportunities in the $9.4 trillion global trucking, last-mile delivery, and ride-hailing market.
Aurora's truck manufacturing partners Volvo and PACCAR (which includes Peterbilt and Kenworth) will help accelerate the development of autonomous trucks.
Additionally, the company is expected to develop in the passenger mobility space with the support of Toyota and Uber.
