Get Anything, Effortlessly.. and soon, Autonomously: Nuro’s Partnership with Uber
Whether it’s pizza, produce or packages, Nuro is on a mission to get communities the things they need, when they need them — with less driving, lower emissions, and a delightful user experience.
Just last week we took another big step towards that goal by announcing a 10-year partnership with Uber to use our autonomous, electric vehicles for Uber Eats food deliveries. We plan to kick off deliveries this year in Mountain View and Houston, and expand the service to the greater Bay Area soon.
There are a few reasons this partnership is exciting. The first is perhaps obvious but bears repeating — Uber Eats has 81 million customers across the world and generated revenues of $8.3 billion in 2021. Our unique vehicles and Uber’s scale and reach will unlock countless possibilities. Some of these are evident and easy to imagine, but the most significant is the marriage of the two companies’ unique strengths that really generate the most value for both parties. Nuro’s proprietary AV simulation tools, combined with Uber’s scale and history will enable us to jointly identify precisely where our technology can have the most impact, not just for Uber and Nuro, but for merchants and customers alike.
Which leads us to the second aspect that’s critical to explore. Nuro is in the fortunate position of having emerged as the industry leading AV goods delivery provider of choice, evidenced by the company’s long history of partnering with some of the world’s largest brands, including Kroger, Walmart, Dominos, FedEx, and 7-Eleven. And we are incredibly proud of that outcome, which is a testament to the caliber of Nuro’s teams and technology and a validation of the company’s focus on the mission.
Our goal is to build on these successes in a way that helps us stay true to our mission to better everyday life through robotics. We’re creating a service to help real people, every day. And we are reminded of the importance of this with every request we receive from across the globe. We’ve seen inquiries from a bakery in the French Alps, a small bed and breakfast in the Maldives, a family-owned restaurant in Rogersville, Alabama and even a family in the UK — to name but a few. And each of these small businesses had real problems they wanted our help to solve — from hiring drivers to safety and everything in between. This is what we mean when we say we want to better everyday life through robotics. Real people, real businesses, real benefits.
We aren’t in the UK just yet — but that family represents the kinds of communities we want to help. Our partnership with Uber represents a big step in making that possible for a lot of other small, family-owned businesses across the US. And that’s something I’m personally incredibly excited about.
Watch this space. The next ten years will be fun.
