Self-driving delivery firm Nuro raises the money it needs

SELF-DRIVING delivery firm Nuro raises the money it needs thanks to a huge boost in e-commerce since the start of the coronavirus pandemic.

In a statement from the company on Monday, November 9, they announced it has raised $500 million (€421 million) meaning its R2 unit, which has no pedals or steering wheel and only room for packages, will now have a chance of competing with Waymo, the self-driving unit of Alphabet Inc.

According to data firm PitchBook, this latest money raised means that the total raised in 2020 by autonomous car companies is $7.1 billion (€6 billion) as of November 4.

Early last year Nuro raised $940 million (€792 million) from SoftBank and a source close to the company said the valuation doubled from that last funding round to $5 billion (€4.2 billion).

Nuro co-founder Dave Ferguson said the funding will help Nuro expand its team but also scale up manufacturing after gaining approval to deploy up to 5,000 R2 vehicles on public roads every year from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration back in February.

They currently drive around in Houston, Texas, Scottsdale, Arizona, and nine cities in California, delivering groceries and pharmaceuticals to elderly people in self-isolation.

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