Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information. Uber Technologies is selling its autonomous driving unit, Uber Advanced Technologies Group (ATG), to self-driving car startup Aurora, in a move … Uber is doubling down on ride-hailing and food delivery as it chases that elusive profit. Topics Autonomous Vehicles Uber Self-Driving Cars WIRED is where tomorrow is realized. Sign up to the E&T News e-mail to get great stories like this delivered to your inbox every day. It is the essential source of information and ideas that make sense of a world in constant transformation. Despite being the largest ride-sharing firm in the world, Uber has consistently failed to make a profit since its inception. SAN RAMON, Calif. — Uber is selling off its autonomous vehicles-development arm to Aurora as the ride-hailing company slims down after its revenues were pummeled by the coronavirus pandemic. Self-driving cars were meant to be its future. Copyright © 2020 NPR. SAN RAMON, CALIF. — Uber is selling off its autonomous vehicles development arm as the ride-hailing company slims down after its revenues were pummeled by the coronavirus pandemic. The ride-hailing giant has sold its autonomous vehicle research unit to a startup. At Uber, we believe the future of mobility is increasingly shared, sustainable, and automated. Self-driving could still be part of Uber's future in years to come through partnerships, but the company won't be developing the technology in-house. After the transaction, Aurora, which is led by former Google, Tesla, and Uber executives, will be worth $10bn. Uber is selling off its driverless car unit - a move that reverses a previous important strategy item to position the company for the future of transportation.. The goal was to eventually offer rides without needing to pay drivers. 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,” Khosrowshahi said. DOMONOSKE: That was Uber co-founder Travis Kalanick at a World Economic Forum event in 2016. autonomous vehicles uber Uber, like its competitors Waymo, Zoox, Cruise and others, has been trying and failing to get autonomous cars up and running for years now. They could not support that level of R&D needed to make this successful. Uber is getting out of the self-driving game. Uber’s self-driving car division, the Advanced Technologies Group (ATG), has taken a new approach to autonomous driving since a fatal crash involving one of its vehicles. The decision doesn't completely remove the ride-hailing giant from the development of autonomous vehicles into the mass market but it signals a downplaying of the concept in the core Uber business. But while self-driving technology has been improving, it's not close to making Uber any money. DOMONOSKE: Just a few months after that remark, a self-driving Uber on a test run struck and killed a pedestrian in Tempe, Ariz. After that deadly crash, Uber pulled its test vehicles off the road for a while, but research into self-driving software continued. Uber thought it would have 75,000 autonomous vehicles on the roads this year and be operating driverless taxi services in 13 cities by 2022, according to court documents unsealed last week. It hasn't quite given up on the idea of robotaxis, but it is recognizing it can no longer afford to spend billions of dollars on the technology. Uber, like its competitors Waymo, Zoox, Cruise and others, has been trying and failing to get autonomous cars up and running for years now. Aurora will also take control of Uber’s Advanced Technologies Group (ATG) and incorporate its team and technology into its own. Uber is selling off its autonomous vehicles development arm to Aurora as the ride-hailing company slims down after its revenues were pummeled by the coronavirus pandemic. And that research is very expensive. Uber … NPR's Camila Domonoske reports. Accuracy and availability may vary. Driven: Google, Uber, and the Battle to Build an Autonomous Car Author Alex Davies talks about his new book, Driven, and the the prospects of a truly autonomous vehicle. It's in the billions. According to tech site The Verge, Aurora’s self-driving vehicle will eventually operate on the Uber platform, and Uber is investing $400 million in Aurora. TRAVIS KALANICK: There's a huge, huge, like, positive impact to society when driverless cars become a thing. After all these years, Uber is recognizing its limitations. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. It's a sign the company that always dreamed big is narrowing its focus. The short answer is that Uber is not yet striving for a world of total autonomy—developing realms of self-driving pistes is the current goal. Uber is getting out of the self-driving game. Despite being the largest ride-sharing firm in the world, Uber has consistently failed to make a profit since its inception. Uber had already started pulling resources away from autonomous R&D as early as 2018 when it ceased development on a proposed line of self-driving trucks. Uber's self-driving system includes sensors that view 360 degree around the car. Uber is to sell its autonomous driving unit to start-up Aurora, in a deal designed to accelerate the firm’s attempts to become profitable. By Brett Berk The company lost around $8.5bn in 2019. Uber will sell its self-driving car business to Aurora Innovation, a startup founded by the former head engineer of Google’s pioneering autonomous vehicle project. Please let us know if you agree to all of these cookies. We use cookies to give you the best online experience. It already has partnerships with delivery giant Amazon and automakers Hyundai and Kia, among others, but its partnership with Uber is its first official partnership with a ride-hailing company. It wanted to replace personal car ownership. All rights reserved. It has also faced court battles following a fatal crash in one of its driverless cars that caused the death of a pedestrian and negative press for the firm. Published Tuesday, December 8, 2020 Uber is to sell its autonomous driving unit to start-up Aurora, in a deal designed to accelerate the firm’s attempts to become profitable. And after Kalanick was pushed out of Uber because of numerous scandals, new CEO Dara Khosrowshahi was still optimistic. It's a major shift for a company that once saw self-driving technology as a core investment for its future. DARA KHOSROWSHAHI: We will have autonomous cars on the road, I believe, within the next 18 months not as a kind of a test case but as a real case out there. Developing self-driving technology is one of the biggest technical challenges of our time. Uber is selling off its autonomous vehicles development arm as the ride-hailing company slims down after its revenues were pummeled by the coronavirus pandemic. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record. Uber is handing over its troubled self-driving vehicle unit to Amazon-backed Aurora as the tech giant continues to unload unprofitable business divisions and the industry moves away from robotaxis to autonomous trucking and food delivery.As part of the equity deal, Uber will invest $400 million in Aurora and get a 26% stake in the company, an Aurora spokesperson told FreightWaves. “Few technologies hold as much promise to improve people’s lives with safe, accessible, and environmentally friendly transportation as self-driving vehicles. And when it came to self-driving technology, Uber wanted to play a starring role in that revolution and make a fortune off of it. Uber has long been hedging its bets on driverless technology as a way to reach profitability and avoid the high cost of driver acquisition and onboarding as well as regulatory pressure to ensure hourly wage minimums. Uber Electric Autonomous Vehicle Strategic Analysis. DANIEL IVES: Yeah, they've put a lot of money. Our driverless car technology plans a safe path to your destination. Uber, which spent hundreds of millions of dollars on a self-driving car project that executives once believed was a key to becoming profitable, is handing the autonomous vehicle effort over to a Silicon Valley start-up, the companies said on Monday. Uber has abandoned efforts to develop its own self-driving car, bringing to an end one of the most ambitious attempts to develop a fully autonomous vehicle. The ride-hailing giant has sold its autonomous vehicle research unit to a startup. 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Uber isn't getting any cash in exchange. Aurora will acquire the employees and technology behind Uber's Advanced Technologies Group in an equity transaction, the companies said Monday. Ives says this transaction is all about getting a money-loser off the books. If successful, these vehicles have the potential to make our roads safer and transportation more affordable for everyone. Hypothesis Test: How can Uber improve the safety of its ride-sharing service? Business Dec 10th 2020 edition. DOMONOSKE: Daniel Ives is with Wedbush Securities. As Uber parks its plans for robotaxis, experts admit the autonomous vehicle challenge is bigger than anticipated. The company lost around $8.5bn in 2019. Uber Advanced Technologies Group has resumed testing autonomous vehicles in San Francisco, two years after the company scaled back its testing … He spoke at Davos in 2018. Uber’s Advanced Technology Group had been working on developing autonomous vehicles for several years in Pittsburgh, and their AVs were tested on Pittsburgh streets. Uber has sold its autonomous vehicle research division to a startup named Aurora. DOMONOSKE: All that expertise is heading to a startup named Aurora that's working on self-driving trucks. Autonomous vehicle design involves an almost incomprehensible combination of engineering tasks including sensor fusion, ... Uber’s test vehicle was driving 39 … (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar, File) Uber is selling off its autonomous vehicles development arm to Aurora as the ride-hailing company slims down after its revenues were pummeled by the coronavirus pandemic. Uber, which spent hundreds of millions of dollars on a self-driving car project that executives once believed was a key to becoming profitable, is handing the autonomous vehicle … Tesla almost hits 500,000-car delivery target for 2020 despite pandemic Uber returned to testing its current-generation self-driving vehicles on public roads in December 2018, nine months after one struck and killed Elaine Herzberg, who … It's never turned a profit, and the pandemic has it bleeding money. Uber sells ATG to autonomous tech developer Aurora Ride-hailing giant is seen as selling off expensive business units Level 4 autonomy is expected to … Aurora believes that the autonomous trucking sector is where its first commercial vehicles will become available, although the new acquisition considerably bolsters its passenger mobility credentials. But Uber has been seeking options for its autonomous vehicle division, a cash-burn machine, including more outside investment, as Khosrowshahi refocused on … Harwell Science and Innovation Campus, Oxfordshire. NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by Verb8tm, Inc., an NPR contractor, and produced using a proprietary transcription process developed with NPR. SAN RAMON, Calif. (AP) — Uber is selling off its autonomous vehicles development arm to Aurora as the ride-hailing company slims down after its revenues were pummeled by the coronavirus pandemic.Aurora will acquire the employees and technology behind Uber's Advanced Technologies Group in an equity transaction, the companies said Monday.Uber will invest $400 million into Learn more about IET cookies and how to control them, Uber sells autonomous vehicle division to start-up, © 2021 The Institution of Engineering and Technology. IVES: This was a strategic vision, but ultimately, for it to really play out, they were going to need to sell this business. Under the new deal, Uber will invest $400m into self-driving vehicles start-up Aurora to hold a 26 per cent stake in the firm and Uber’s CEO Dara Khosrowshahi will join its board of directors. It wanted to operate around the globe. Uber started charging fees for autonomous car rides, even though Peduto was under the impression that the rides would be free, and the company withdrew support for a … Spinning off Why is Uber selling its autonomous-vehicle division? CAMILA DOMONOSKE, BYLINE: Uber has always aimed big. Uber hasn’t given up on autonomous vehicles altogether — its partnership with Aurora, which will see Aurora’s technology leverage Uber’s ride-hailing network, is evidence of this. Working on self-driving trucks like, positive impact to society when driverless cars become uber autonomous vehicles.! 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