Nuro

Last updated

Nuro, Inc.
Company type Private
Industry Robotics
Founded2016;9 years ago (2016)
Founders
  • Jiajun Zhu
  • Dave Ferguson
Headquarters
Mountain View, California
,
United States
Key people
Jiajun Zhu (CEO)
Dave Ferguson (President)
Number of employees
700 (2025)
Website nuro.ai

Nuro, Inc. is an American autonomous vehicle technology company based in Mountain View, California. Founded in 2016 by Jiajun Zhu and Dave Ferguson, [1] Nuro initially developed custom autonomous delivery vehicles and became the first company to receive an autonomous exemption from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). [2] Since September 2024, the company has focused on licensing its proprietary Level 4 driving system, Nuro Driver, to automakers and mobility providers. [3]

Contents

History

The company was founded by engineers of Google's self-driving car project, Waymo. Jiajun Zhu served as the principal software engineer and Dave Ferguson joined in 2011 as the principal machine learning engineer. [4] [5] Both left Waymo in 2016 and founded Nuro that September. [6]

Nuro officially launched and showcased its first product, an electric self-driving local commerce delivery vehicle, in January 2018 with $92 million in funding from Greylock Partners and Gaorong Capital. [7] Known as the R1, it weighed 1,500 pounds (680 kg) and was just over 6 feet (1.8 m) tall, about half the width of a sedan. [8] This vehicle was designed to carry only cargo, with space for 12 grocery bags in the first model. [8]

In June 2018, Nuro announced its first partnership with Kroger to test the fully autonomous delivery of groceries. [9]

The pilot launched on August 16, 2018, in Scottsdale, Arizona at a Fry's Food and Drug store. Initially, self-driving Toyota Prius cars were used for the pilot. [10] [11] [12] On December 18, 2018, the R1 was officially launched into the pilot. [13]

In February 2019, Nuro raised $940 million from SoftBank Group, which valued the company at $2.7 billion. [14]

On June 17, 2019, Nuro announced its partnership with Domino's Pizza [15] to launch in Houston later that year. [16]

In February 2020, Nuro began testing the R2, the second generation of self-driving vehicles, in Houston, Texas. [17] In April 2020, Nuro announced that the R2 prototype was being used to transport medical supplies around medical facilities in California. [18] The R2 was designed with no steering wheel, side view mirrors, or pedals. [19]

The company began prescription delivery through CVS Pharmacy in May 2020. [20] In November 2020, Nuro announced that they raised $500 million in their Series C funding round led by T. Rowe Price, with a post-money valuation of $5 billion. [21]

In December 2020, Nuro acquired self-driving trucking startup Ike Robotics. [22] Over 55 Ike employees joined Nuro's staff after the acquisition. [23] [24]

Nuro announced its compact autonomous vehicle R3 design in January 2021. [25]

In August 2021, Nuro announced that it would spend $40 million on the construction of a manufacturing facility and test track for its self-driving robot vehicles, located in southern Nevada. [26] In December 2021, Nuro announced a partnership to commercially deliver 7-Eleven goods. [27]

In September 2022, Uber and Nuro announced a 10-year partnership for autonomous food deliveries, starting in California and Texas. [28] In November 2022, Nuro laid off 20 percent of its staff, or approximately 300 employees. [29] In May 2023, Nuro paused commercial expansion to focus on autonomy systems and laid off 30 percent of its staff, or approximately 340 employees. [30]

In February 2024, the company launched a collaboration with Arm Holdings to develop its third-generation autonomous delivery vehicle. [31] Nuro announced its business model pivot in September 2024, shifting towards technology licensing. [32]

In April 2025, Nuro opened a $106 million Series E funding round. [33] In August 2025, it closed the Series E round with an additional $96 million of funding. [34]

In July 2025, a partnership was established between Nuro, Uber, and Lucid Motors to launch a robotaxi fleet. Uber will purchase and operate Lucid Gravity SUV vehicles outfitted with Nuro Driver autonomous driving technology. [35] [36] The partnership anticipates launching its first vehicle in 2026, with plans to deploy at least 20,000 robotaxis over the next six years. [35] [36]

Nuro Driver

In September 2024, Nuro launched its new business model, licensing its AI-based, self-driving Nuro Driver software technology to automakers, suppliers and mobility providers. Nuro Driver is capable of enabling up to Level 4 robotaxis, personally owned autonomous vehicles, and driverless goods delivery. [3] [37] [38]

Nuro Driver expanded its L4 driverless capabilities using zero-occupant vehicles in November 2024. [39]

In April 2025, Nuro Driver expanded to Japan, officially launching Nuro’s first international data-collection initiative. The deployment will allow Nuro Driver to improve its AI model through local traffic dynamics. [40]

Nuro Driver began on-road autonomous testing on the Las Vegas Strip in May 2025. [41]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Hawkins, Andrew J. (January 30, 2018). "Two ex-Google engineers built an entirely different kind of self-driving car". The Verge . Retrieved February 25, 2023.
  2. ↑ Wiggers, Kyle (May 22, 2020). "Autonomous delivery companies stress need for clearer rules on deployment". VentureBeat . Retrieved February 25, 2023.
  3. 1 2 "Nuro is branching out into robotaxis and personally owned autonomous vehicles". The Verge.
  4. ↑ Davies, Alex (June 28, 2018). "Get Yer Bread and Milk From Kroger's Cute New Delivery Robot". WIRED . ISSN   1059-1028.
  5. ↑ Bergen, Mark (June 11, 2018). "Nuro's Driverless Cars Don't Have to Worry About Passenger Safety". Bloomberg.com .
  6. ↑ Bhuiyan, Johana (September 15, 2016). "Meet the startup that two of Google's top self-driving engineers left to create". Recode . Vox . Retrieved February 25, 2023.
  7. ↑ "California start-up Nuro unveils autonomous delivery van, raises $92 million". Reuters . San Francisco. Reuters. January 30, 2018. Retrieved February 25, 2023.
  8. 1 2 Davies, Alex (January 30, 2018). "Nuro's Self-Driving R-1 Doesn't Drive You. It Drives Stuff". Wired . ISSN   1059-1028. Archived from the original on July 12, 2021. Retrieved February 26, 2023.
  9. ↑ Dickey, Megan Rose (June 28, 2018). "Self-driving car startup Nuro teams up with Kroger for same-day grocery delivery". TechCrunch . Retrieved February 26, 2023.
  10. ↑ Dickey, Megan Rose (August 16, 2018). "Nuro and Kroger are deploying self-driving cars for grocery delivery in Arizona today". TechCrunch . Retrieved February 26, 2023.
  11. ↑ Pollack, Neal (August 28, 2018). "Road-Testing the First Autonomous Car Grocery Delivery Service". The Drive. Retrieved February 26, 2023.
  12. ↑ Rosenholtz, Jared (December 26, 2020). "The Toyota Prius Will Drive Itself Before Any Tesla". CarBuzz. Retrieved February 26, 2023.
  13. ↑ Lee, Timothy B. (December 18, 2018). "Kroger-owned grocery store begins fully driverless deliveries". Ars Technica . Retrieved February 26, 2023.
  14. ↑ "Driverless delivery startup Nuro gets $940 million SoftBank investment". Reuters . Reuters. February 11, 2019. Retrieved February 25, 2023.
  15. ↑ Davies, Alex (June 17, 2019). "Nuro's Pizza Robot Will Bring You a Domino's Pie". WIRED . ISSN   1059-1028.
  16. ↑ Murphy, Mike (June 17, 2019). "Dominos is about to start delivering pizzas with autonomous robots". Quartz . Retrieved June 21, 2019. Nuro will deliver Domino's pizza with its robots in Houston
  17. ↑ "Self-driving delivery van ditches 'human controls'". BBC News . BBC. February 6, 2020. Retrieved February 26, 2023.
  18. ↑ Hawkins, Andrew (April 22, 2020). "Nuro is using delivery robots to help health care workers fighting COVID-19 – The self-driving delivery company is operating at two field hospitals in California". The Verge . Retrieved February 26, 2023.
  19. ↑ McFarland, Matt (February 6, 2020). "Autonomous delivery companies stress need for clearer rules on deployment". CNN Business . Washington, DC: CNN. CNN. Retrieved January 21, 2020. US clears the way for this self-driving vehicle with no steering wheel or pedals
  20. ↑ Korosec, Kirsten (May 28, 2020). "Nuro's self-driving vehicles to deliver prescriptions for CVS Pharmacy". TechCrunch . Retrieved February 26, 2023.
  21. ↑ Korosec, Kirsten (November 9, 2020). "Autonomous delivery startup Nuro hits $5 billion valuation on fresh funding of $500 million". TechCrunch .
  22. ↑ Schubarth, Cromwell (December 23, 2020). "Self-driving delivery unicorn Nuro picks up Ike Robotics". Silicon Valley Business Journal. American City Business Journals . Retrieved February 25, 2023.
  23. ↑ Korosec, Kirsten (December 23, 2020). "Nuro acquires autonomous trucking startup Ike". TechCrunch . Retrieved February 25, 2023.
  24. ↑ Wiggers, Kyle (December 23, 2020). "Nuro acquires self-driving truck startup Ike". VentureBeat . Retrieved February 25, 2023.
  25. ↑ Wessling, Brianna (January 12, 2022). "Nuro unveils third-generation autonomous delivery vehicle". The Robot Report. Retrieved October 21, 2025.
  26. ↑ Hawkins, Andrew (August 26, 2021). "Nuro is building a factory and test track in Nevada for its autonomous delivery robots – The self-driving startup is dramatically expanding its footprint". The Verge . Retrieved September 1, 2021.
  27. ↑ Korosec, Kirsten (December 1, 2021). "Nuro and 7-Eleven to pilot autonomous delivery service in California". TechCrunch . Retrieved February 26, 2023.
  28. ↑ "Uber and Nuro Announce 10-Year Partnership for Autonomous Food Deliveries Starting in California and Texas". PR Newswire . San Francisco. PRNewswire. September 8, 2022. Retrieved September 9, 2022.
  29. ↑ Hawkins, Andrew J. (November 18, 2022). "Robot delivery startup Nuro is laying off 20 percent of its workers". The Verge . Retrieved February 26, 2023.
  30. ↑ "Nuro lays off 30 percent of staff, shifts focus to R&D". Engadget. May 12, 2023. Retrieved September 18, 2023.
  31. ↑ Hawkins, Andrew J. (February 22, 2024). "Nuro gets a leg up from Arm in launching its third-generation delivery robot". The Verge. Retrieved October 21, 2025.
  32. ↑ "Nuro Pivots From Delivery Bots To Licensing Automated Driving Software". Forbes.
  33. ↑ "Nuro secures $6 billion valuation in latest funding round". Reuters.
  34. ↑ "Self-driving vehicle startup Nuro valued at $6 billion in late-stage funding round". Reuters.
  35. 1 2 "Uber Plans Fleet of 20,000 Robotaxis in Deal with Lucid, Nuro".
  36. 1 2 bio, See full. "Uber Unveils Global Robotaxi Plan With Lucid and Nuro". CNET. Retrieved October 21, 2025.
  37. ↑ "Nuro to start licensing its autonomy platform to automotive OEMs". Robot Report.
  38. ↑ "Ready to Roll: Nuro to License Its Autonomous Driving System". Nvidia.
  39. ↑ "Peninsula autonomous vehicle company plots big expansion". Biz Journals.
  40. ↑ "Nuro brings autonomous vehicle test fleet to Japan for data collection". Robot Report.
  41. ↑ "Self-Driving Tech Company Starts Testing on Las Vegas Strip". IOT.
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