Self-driving startup Aurora is going public through a merger with a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) dubbed Reinvent Technology Partners Y.
Aurora was founded in 2017 by the former head of Google’s autonomous vehicle program, Chris Urmson, and ex-Uber self-driving engineer Drew Bagnell. It also went on to recruit Sterling Anderson, the former head of Tesla’s Autopilot team. The company has quickly established itself as one of the most significant players in the autonomous vehicle space and last year, bought Uber’s entire self-driving division.
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Aurora’s deal with Reinvent Technology Partners Y will value the company at $11 billion and should close in the second half of 2021, The Verge reports. A touch under $1 billion will come from the SPAC while another $1 billion will be generated from investors including Uber, Volvo, PACCAR, T. Rowe Price, Fidelity, Sequoia Capital, and others.
The startup acknowledges that it will take some time before it starts to make money. In fact, it expects to lose money until at least 2027 while developing its technologies. It ultimately plans to sell its technologies to other companies. Filings reveal that Aurora lost $214 million in 2020, of which $179 million was used for research and development. In the first quarter of 2021, Aurora lost $189 million, with $159 million of that going to research and development.
The hardware and software package being developed by the company is dubbed ‘Aurora Driver’ and could be used in the trucking industry without humans behind the wheel as early as 2023 and in ride-hailing vehicles in late 2024.
