ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø

(Avride via X)

[Stay on top of transportation news: .]

Uber Technologies Inc. and Nebius Group NV are committing as much as $375 million to develop Avride, the Dutch cloud infrastructure company’s autonomous vehicle subsidiary.

The new funding, which includes strategic investment and commercial commitments, will help accelerate the growth of Avride’s driverless fleet to as many as 500 cars, an Avride spokesperson said. If Avride reaches certain agreed milestones, both companies will contribute additional capital, bringing the total potential investment to $375 million, the spokesperson added without providing more details.

The investment will also support Avride’s product development and expansion into new geographies, the company said in a statement Oct. 22.

Uber’s investment expands on a multiyearÌýpartnershipÌýwith Austin-based Avride to deploy autonomous vehicles and food delivery robots. The two companies have launched sidewalk delivery robots in Jersey City, Austin, and Dallas, and are planning to launch a fleet of Hyundai Motor Co. Ioniq 5s retrofitted with Avride’s software in Dallas by the end of the year.

We’ve secured up to $375 million in new investments and commitments from and to scale our AI-driven autonomous tech and expand to new markets. — Avride (@Avrideai)

Avride declined to disclose Uber’s exact contribution, which is the first investment it has received from an external partner. The spokesperson said the deal is structured as a convertible note, under which Uber will have the option to convert its investment into equity at a future date. Avride will remain a wholly owned subsidiary of Nebius, the spokesperson added.

Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi has said that the rideshare giant will invest in the autonomous technology ecosystem as it bets on a future where it would offer both human-driven and driverless rides. It has so far invested or committed funds to firms like WeRide Inc., Pony AI Inc., Lucid Group Inc., Nuro and Flytrex Inc., as well as fleet companies that operate or own driverless cars. Some of those deals, such asÌýthe one between Lucid and Nuro, are worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

After selling its own autonomous driving unit in 2020, Uber has partnered with more than a dozen AV companies to compete with robotaxi providers like Alphabet Inc.’s Waymo and Tesla Inc.. It has also partnered with Waymo in some U.S. markets.

Nebius is run by Arkady Volozh, who had previously led Russian tech giant Yandex. After Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Volozh was sanctioned by the European Union and resigned as head of the company he’d founded.

Yandex’s Russian business was later sold to a group that included wealthy Kremlin allies. The name of the Dutch holding company that had owned those assets was changed to Nebius. Brussels has removed Volozh from its sanctions list.

Prior to the war, Yandex and Uber operated a joint venture that included a self-driving car business in Russia. The Russian companyÌýagreedÌýto buy Uber out in 2021. After Volozh disentangled himself from Yandex, Nebius owned the licenses to develop technology for self-driving cars.