SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 8 (Xinhua) -- Uber is selling its costly self-driving unit, the Advanced Technologies Group (ATG), to autonomous vehicle start-up Aurora, and also investing 400 million U.S. dollars into it, the companies said Monday.
Aurora will take the people and technology of Uber's ATG, which will make Aurora the company "best positioned to deliver the self-driving products," said Chris Urmson, the start-up's co-founder and CEO, in a statement released on its website.
Acquiring the ATG makes it possible for Aurora to extend its service from the field of autonomous trucking to passenger mobility, said the statement.
Meanwhile, with the further investment, Uber's CEO Dara Khosrowshahi will join the board of Aurora with his company holding 26 percent of its share, and the start-up is estimated to be worth 10 billion dollars after the transaction.
"I'm looking forward to working with Chris, and to bringing the Aurora Driver to the Uber network in the years ahead," said Khosrowshahi.
Hard-hit by the coronavirus pandemic, Uber, the world's leading ride-hailing platform, has seen its sales fall by 18 percent in the latest quarter. Enditem
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