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Amazon just made a significant investment into the self-driving space.<\/p>\n
Led by venture capital firm Sequoia Capital, Aurora\u2019s Series B funding round raised a whopping $530m<\/strong> with the help of the tech giant. The contribution is a sign that Amazon doesn\u2019t want to get out of the self-driving race.<\/p>\n Why Aurora, and why now? Well, based on a statement released by Amazon, autonomous technology stands to make the company safer and more productive.<\/p>\n It\u2019s also important to point out that Amazon has been investing in autonomous everything for the past few years. They partnered with Toyota back in 2017<\/a>, and they\u2019ve been working with Embark, a driverless trucking company for at least a few months.<\/p>\n Aurora<\/a> isn\u2019t super well-known at this point, however, with Sequoia and Amazon as investors, and autonomous tech vets from Google, Tesla, Uber, and SpaceX, the company already has a decent amount of credibility.<\/p>\n CEO Chris Urmson says most of the money will go toward building out a staff of engineers, as well as roles like HR and operations.<\/p>\n Aurora\u2019s primary focus is on developing a software package that aims to function as a nervous system for cars.<\/strong><\/p>\n The plan is to market the software as a full-stack solution that automakers can drop into existing makes and models, thus allowing them to take advantage of the tech without fronting the time and money on their own R&D.<\/strong><\/p>\n AI robot revolts on the International Space Station<\/p>\r\n Read now \u25ba<\/a>\r\n <\/div>\r\n <\/div>\r\n <\/a>\r\n <\/div>\r\n<\/div>\n What\u2019s interesting about Aurora is, the company doesn\u2019t have any exclusive deals with automakers and doesn\u2019t plan on pursuing such partnerships.<\/p>\n Urmson says that they don\u2019t want to box themselves in with one type of car \u2014 which could be part of the appeal for Amazon, as they look for new ways to transport toilet paper, books, and inevitably, counterfeit beauty products across the globe.<\/p>\n They wouldn’t want to limit themselves by working with a company that say, only uses Hondas, Toyotas, or Fords.<\/p>\n Just last month, CNBC found<\/a> that Amazon was testing driverless deliveries with the self-driving truck startup, Embark<\/a>.<\/p>\n Like Aurora, Embark doesn\u2019t build their own vehicles. They integrate their software into existing semis,<\/strong> such as Peterbilt, and operate with a test driver inside to ensure everything runs smoothly.<\/p>\n Amazon and General Motors are reportedly in talks to invest in Rivian Automotive<\/a>, an electric truck company.<\/p>\n Amazon announced they would begin field testing Scout, a six-wheeled delivery robot that aims to take on what’s called last mile delivery.<\/p>\nWhat is Aurora Innovation?<\/h2>\n
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