Jiajun Zhu was a primary software engineer at Google and part of the original team of the company’s self-driving initiative, which is now known as Waymo, before he founded Nuro. He not only oversaw the perception team for the project but also assisted in its development and direction of its simulation efforts. Jiajun graduated from Fudan University with a bachelor’s degree in computer science and the University of Virginia with a master’s degree. Jiajun has received more than 100 patent awards.
According to Jiajun Zhu, the goal of Nuro is to use robots to improve daily living. Our initial product, autonomous local products delivery, promises to make millions of people’s lives better while fostering stronger communities and the environment. From the beginning, this has been our objective, and we are still fully devoted to it.
About the Company
American robotics business Nuro, Inc. is situated in Mountain View, California. Nuro, a business founded by Jiajun Zhu and Dave Ferguson, is the first to get an autonomous exemption from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and develops autonomous delivery cars.
The firm was started by the developers behind Waymo, Google’s autonomous vehicle project. Ferguson came in 2011 as the lead machine learning engineer, and Zhu worked as the chief software developer. In September of 2016, Zhu and Ferguson launched Nuro after departing from Waymo.
January 2018 saw the launch of Nuro’s robotic delivery trucks thanks to $92 million in investment from Greylock Partners and Gaorong Capital.
Nuro secured $940 million in February 2019 from SoftBank Group, valuing the business at $2.7 billion. Nuro stated that it will utilize the money to develop its company, add new partners, extend its fleet, and provide delivery services to more locations. The business was listed as No. 10 on LinkedIn’s 2019 Top 50 Startups List in September.
With a post-money valuation of $5 billion, Nuro said in November 2020 that they had secured $500 million in their Series C investment round, which was headed by T. Rowe Price.
Nuro purchased Ike Robotics, a self-driving truck firm, in December 2020. Following the purchase, more than 55 Ike workers—including its three founders—joined Nuro’s workforce.
Nuro declared in August 2021 that it will invest forty million dollars in building a test track and manufacturing plant in southern Nevada for its self-driving robot cars.
