Uber sells self-driving unit to Aurora

Source: Uber

Uber selling off its self-driving division isn't a surprise. But now, we learn that it is selling its Advanced Technologies Group (ATG) to Aurora Innovation, an autonomous vehicle startup and once its rival. Uber will invest US$400 million in Aurora as part of the deal, and its CEO Dara Khosrowshahi will join the startup's board of directors.

As Engadget puts it, Uber is paying Aurora to take ATG off its hands. In the short term, Aurora will use ATG's tech for its self-driving truck. Later on, there will be robot taxis as Uber is licensing the tech from Aurora. 

This sale won't be the last sale Uber will make as it tries to carve a path to profitability. This month, Uber is said to be in advanced talks with Joby Aviation to sell its flying taxi division. This sale could be confirmed in the next few weeks.

Waymo starts offering self-driving minivans for Lyft riders

If you find yourself in Waymo’s Phoenix, Arizona testing zone, you might be able to get a self-driving Lyft ride. The autonomous driving subsidiary of Google’s parent company Alphabet launched its tie-in with ride-hailing service Lyft. Less than 10 self-driving minivans are roaming the streets of Phoenix and picking up Lyft riders who opt-in with the program. According to TechCrunch, Waymo plans to introduce 10 cars in the testing zone but it “isn’t there yet.” While not a lot of people will get to use the service, those who decide to be part of the testing can choose to use the Waymo minivan or a traditional Lyft ride.

This partnership doesn’t mean Waymo isn’t working on its own projects. The company still has its own commercial autonomous ride-hailing service called Waymo One. Earlier this month, Waymo struck a deal with Nissan and Renault to help build self-driving vehicles for those automakers.

Apple acquires self-driving car startup Drive.ai

Kaveh Waddell/Axios

Apple’s latest purchase can be considered more as an acqui-hire. The company just bought Mountain View-based autonomous driving startup Drive.ai. They’ve hired dozens of the company’s engineers and Drive.ai has ceased all operations throughout the last few weeks. Rumours of Apple buying Drive.ai was going around earlier this month, suggesting that the company wanted to boost the development of its own self-driving vehicle system. And from the looks of it, Apple is looking at the company so it could bring in its employees.

Drive.ai was founded back in 2015 by a group of Stanford University students who wanted to introduce a self-driving shuttle service in select cities in Texas. But the company ran into problems and sought out a buyer, which we now know is Apple. Axios didn’t say how much Apple bought Drive.ai for, but the company took on the new hires into its engineering and product design divisions. The move confirms that Apple is still working on its Apple Car project, despite laying off 190 employees from its self-driving car division as part of a restructuring effort.

Audi teases AI:me self-driving city car concept

Volkswagen isn’t the only one with a self-driving concept that will be debuted at the Shanghai Motor Show. Audi will be showing off the AI:me. The car maker teased a sketch of the car and describes it as a “vision of an automated driving compact car for the megacities of tomorrow.”

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