PATRICK T. FALLON / Getty Images
The total financial exposure Uber $UBER 0.00% has built up in self-driving startup Nuro is approaching half a billion dollars, Reuters reported, shedding light on how deeply the two companies are financially intertwined.
The total reflects multiple tranches of investment, with Reuters citing two unnamed sources with direct knowledge of the matter. Uber's initial public disclosure covered participation in a $203 million round that put Nuro's valuation at $6 billion, but that figure tells only part of the story. On top of that, the company quietly made a second, larger investment and struck an agreement to release further capital as Nuro clears specific technical and commercial benchmarks. When added together, those obligations approach the $500 million mark.
A portion of the contingent funding has already been unlocked after Nuro reached its earliest benchmarks on schedule. What remains is gated behind future achievements: operating without a human behind the wheel, an effort slated for later this year; picking up passengers in fully driverless vehicles before year's end; and broadening the service footprint in 2026. Nuro is currently testing with safety drivers and plans to launch commercially in the San Francisco Bay Area later this year.
