Self-delivery startup Nuro has struck a deal with safety-focused software company Foretellix to help with virtual testing of its automated driving system, in an effort to cut research and development costs while continuing to push the technology forward.
The partnership, which the two companies are scheduled to announce later Thursday, comes on the heels of a turbulent period for Nuro. Once a darling of the autonomous vehicle industry, the delivery startup, which has raised more than $2 billion from high-profile investors like Baillie Gifford, Fidelity Management & Research Company, and Google, has been a huge hit. Reducing its workforce twice In the past 18 months, including a Restructuring In May 2023, which saw Nuro pivot from planned commercial operations.
Nuro is also teaming up with Foretellix at a time when the broader autonomous vehicle industry is in flux, with General Motors’ Cruise subsidiary… its workforce And the boot A number of leadersTossimbel Exit the US market And Close Argo AI In fall 2022.
“We always look to operate as cost-effectively as possible,” Nuro co-founder Dave Ferguson told TechCrunch via email. “Throughout the company, we have tried to be diligent stewards of our capital and this is another example of that. But this is in the normal course of business and is not indicative of any change in plans.
Founded in 2018, Foretellix is partly backed by Toyota and Nvidia, and recently raised $43 million round in December. It has already struck similar deals with Volvo Group and Torc Robotics for its verification and validation programme.
Many companies developing automated vehicles have their own simulation software; Foretellix specializes in creating millions of scenarios for independent software testing, reducing the burden on internal teams.
“The product itself is a huge productivity boost, because if you need to develop all these scenarios one by one, it takes an enormous amount of time,” Foretellix CEO and co-founder Ziv Binyamini said in an interview with TechCrunch.
Foretellix software can “auto-analyze” drive logs from Nuro test vehicles and replay those drives in the simulation multiple times. This allows Nuro’s automated system to handle many different versions of the drive without the hassle – and more importantly, time – needed to run all those variations in the real world.
Foretellix declined to disclose financial numbers related to the deal, but Benjamini said his company has been talking to Nuro about the partnership for about a year, and that they are already working together.
This story has been updated to include a response from Nuro co-founder Dave Ferguson.