Nuro, the robotics company that partnered with Kroger to pilot a driverless vehicle grocery delivery service, has raised $940 million from the SoftBank Vision Fund.
Starting in August, Nuro used a fleet of self-driving Priuses with vehicle operators to deliver groceries from a Fry’s Food Stores location in Scottsdale, Ariz. Nuro made nearly 1,000 deliveries with those vehicles before beginning deliveries in December with the unmanned vehicle R1, which travels on public roads and only transports goods.
“Nuro’s world-class team has successfully scaled their self-driving technology out of the lab and into the streets,” Michael Ronen, managing partner of SoftBank Investment Advisers, said in a news release. “In just two years (founders) Dave, Jiajun and team have developed Nuro from a concept into a real business using robotics to connect retailers to customers.”
Nuro will use the financing to expand the delivery service to new areas, add new partners, grow its fleet, continue to improve its self-driving technology and grow its team.