Self–driving vehicle startup Nuro has raised $203M in its latest late stage funding round, valuing the company at $6B. The round brought in new investors Uber and Nvidia, alongside returning backers, as the company accelerates development of its autonomous driving technology.
For many in the mobility sector, valuations for once high-flying startups have adjusted since the 2021 boom, when investor appetite was at its peak. Nuro’s current valuation is below the $8.6B it achieved that year, but the company described the outcome as strong given today’s market climate.
Latest tranche adds to earlier commitments
The latest $97M tranche follows $106M announced in April, when investors including T. Rowe Price, Fidelity, and Tiger Global participated. Nuro said the fundraising reflects ongoing confidence in its technology and commercial roadmap, despite the market shift towards AI-focused investments.
A Nuro spokesperson said: “The change reflects broader market conditions, and this is a strong outcome for the current market environment.”
Founders behind Nuro
Founded in 2016, Nuro began with delivery robots but has since pivoted to licensing its Nuro Driver technology for a range of applications, including robotaxis, commercial fleets, and personal vehicles.
Nuro was founded by Jiajun Zhu and Dave Ferguson, both veterans of Google’s self-driving car programme, now known as Waymo. Zhu, the company’s Chief Executive, previously served as a principal software engineer at Google, where he led the perception team and helped develop its simulation capabilities. He holds degrees in computer science from the University of Virginia and Fudan University and has been awarded more than 100 patents.
Ferguson, Nuro’s President, was also a principal engineer on the Waymo project, where he headed teams in computer vision, machine learning, behaviour prediction and scene understanding. Earlier in his career, he led the planning group for Carnegie Mellon University’s team that won the DARPA Urban Grand Challenge in 2007. Ferguson holds an MS and PhD in Robotics from Carnegie Mellon, a bachelor’s degree in computer science and mathematics from the University of Otago and has authored over 60 academic papers alongside holding more than 100 patents.
Expanding partnerships and autonomous technology licensing
The company recently partnered with electric vehicle maker Lucid and Uber to launch a global robotaxi service. Uber plans to deploy more than 20,000 Lucid Gravity SUVs equipped with Nuro’s system across dozens of markets over six years beginning in 2026.
With backing from both established investors and strategic partners, Nuro aims to scale its self-driving platform while expanding commercial collaborations that put its autonomous driving technology into everyday use.
