Uber is selling its self-driving-car business to Aurora as it races to turn a profit amid the pandemic
- Uber announced on Monday that it would sell its self-driving-car unit to the startup Aurora.
- Uber said it would also invest $400 million in the company as part of the deal.
- Earlier this year, Uber made a similar move by offloading Jump to Lime as part of an investment in Lime.
- No price tag was disclosed for the self-driving-car deal.
The self-driving-car startup Aurora is buying Uber's Advanced Technologies Group, the companies announced Monday, as the ride-hailing giant grapples with a pandemic-related downturn in its core taxi business.
As part of the deal, Uber will also invest $400 million in Aurora - a move similar to when it offloaded its Jump bike division to Lime while taking a stake in Lime. Aurora and Uber didn't disclose a total price tag for the deal.
Self-driving technology is notoriously expensive when it comes to research and development. In 2019, Uber's ATG brought in $42 million in revenue but ultimately contributed to about $500 million in EBITDA losses. Uber also turned to outside investors last year to shore up the unit's finances, selling a $1 billion stake to Toyota, SoftBank, and others.
"Few technologies hold as much promise to improve people's lives with safe, accessible, and environmentally friendly transportation as self-driving vehicles," Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi, who is joining Aurora's board as part of the acquisition, said in a press release.
"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," he continued.
Axios reported last week that Uber had also been in talks to sell Elevate, its flying-taxi project, to Joby Aviation in a separate deal.
Uber shelled out heavily to branch into new markets during the pandemic, which has had disastrous effects on its core ride-hailing business. It bought Postmates in a deal worth $2.65 billion, and it later acquired the Latin American grocery-delivery firm Cornershop.
Investors have applauded the moves, sending shares of Uber up more than 73% this year, surpassing its initial-public-offering trades to outperform benchmark market indexes.