In a week that dramatically changed the landscape for autonomous trucking enterprises, Aurora Innovation (NASDAQ: AUR) announced a significant new investment by T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. This investment amounted to $125 million in newly issued stock, part of a $600 million private placement, a bold move in a time of uncertainty in the sector.
Uber Technologies, a significant stakeholder in Aurora, channeled an additional $1 million into its Aurora investment and purchased 24.66 million shares valued around $74 million. This marked a significant step in the journey for the self-driving vehicle industry, particularly for Aurora. These transactions indicate Uber's continued belief in the success of Aurora, which began in December 2020 when Uber invested $400 million in the startup for a 26% stake.
Despite this positive investor sentiment, Aurora's co-founder and Chief Product Officer, Sterling Anderson, raised eyebrows by selling substantial parts of his Aurora holdings via a 10b-5 plan filed last year with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Waymo's decision to put its autonomous trucking efforts on pause came as a surprise for many. Despite this, they pledged continued investment in their partnership with Daimler Truck North America. Meanwhile, Daimler is focusing its autonomous efforts on its subsidiary, Torc Robotics, with the objective of introducing Level 4 high autonomy by 2027.
Despite Daimler Truck's skepticism about battery swapping for electric vehicles, Mitsubishi Fuso is partnering with Ample Inc. to trial this technology in Japan. This move will equip Fuso eCanter delivery vehicles with Ample's modular battery swapping technology, allowing for quick battery replacement and full recharging within just a few minutes.
The Autonomous Vehicle Industry Association (AVIA) has announced that its members have achieved a total of 44 million miles of high-autonomy Level 4 driving, supervised and unsupervised. AVIA’s focus is on proving that, despite the fact that most people have not seen an autonomous vehicle in operation, they are indeed present, functioning, and operating safely.
In other news, Iveco has rebranded the Nikola Tre battery-electric truck as the Iveco Heavy Duty BEV following the end of its manufacturing joint venture with Nikola. Moreover, Hyzon Motors has regained favor with Nasdaq, and Lion Electric has inaugurated its new production plant in Joliet, Illinois, which is claimed to be the largest all-electric plant dedicated to medium- and heavy-duty commercial vehicle production in the U.S.
