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A startup developer of autonomous delivery technology plans to establish its first manufacturing facility in Las Vegas, company and state officials announced.
Nuro, a Silicon Valley company founded in 2016 by two former engineers at Google’s Waymo self-driving arm, will spend a total of $40 million to establish an “end-of-line” manufacturing facility and a closed test track at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The investment includes $10 million in capital spending and $30 million in long-term leases.
Nuro said BYD North America, a U.S.-based affiliate of the Chinese electric vehicle giant, would assemble vehicles in the U.S. and deliver them to Nuro’s Las Vegas facility, where they would be transformed into “innovative autonomous vehicles.” Nuro officials said the company would design all software and digital infrastructure, which would be operated from U.S.-based servers.
The project will create 250 jobs in high-skill positions over the next decade, officials said.
“This is a significant moment for Nuro,” co-founder and CEO Jiajun Zhu said in a statement. “Building on our tremendous momentum … we are now able to invest in the infrastructure to build tens of thousands of robots.”
The company, which has partnered with Domino’s, Kroger, and FedEx to pilot its technology, hopes to begin producing its third-generation autonomous vehicle in Las Vegas by next year.
The project was awarded more than $170,000 in state tax abatements over 10 years earlier this year.
Image Credit: AP Photo / Ross D. Franklin