By Vega
The ride-hail giant on Monday announced that it sold its Advanced Technologies Group to self-driving car startup Aurora for $4 billion, ridding itself of a source of major cash burn.
Along with the sale — which represents a major discount from the $7.25 billion valuation the division had just last year — Uber will invest $400 million in Aurora, giving it a 26 percent stake in the company.
Uber and Aurora will additionally enter into a deal to launch self-driving vehicles on Uber’s ride-hailing network, the companies said.
The sale will accelerate Uber’s goal to achieve profitability on an adjusted basis by the end of 2021, CEO Dara Khosrowshahi told Reuters.
“This essentially advances our path to profitability,” Khosrowshahi said.
Uber had been in talks with Aurora since October. Once the jewel of Uber’s business, ATG has struggled of late to make meaningful advances, and faces intense competition from Alphabet-owned Waymo and Apple’s autonomous vehicle efforts.
