Delphi Automotive Plc (https://www.dealstreetasia.com/?s=Delphi+Automotive+Plc) has decided to acquire Boston-based nuTonomy Inc (https://www.dealstreetasia.com/?s=nuTonomy+Inc), a self-driving car startup, for a total of $450 million.
Delphi will pay $400 million upfront and the remaining $50 million based on the future performance of the company, the companies said in a statement. The deal is subject to customary closing conditions and is expected to close by the end of 2017.
Through this acquisition, Delphi will have autonomous driving operations in Boston, Pittsburgh, Singapore, Santa Monica, and Silicon Valley, while nuTonomy will continue to be based in Boston.
nuTonomy is backed by the Singapore government, among other investors.
In May 2016, nuTonomy had raised (https://www.dealstreetasia.com/stories/singapores-edbi-participates-in-16m-seriesa-round-42034/) a $16-million Series A round led by Highland Capital Partners and EDBI, the corporate investment arm of the Singapore Economic Development Board, had also joined this round.
At that time, the startup had already been operating an R&D fleet of autonomous vehicles in Singapore after becoming the first private company to win governmental approval for testing on public roads.
In August 2016, nuTonomy joined hands with the Singapore government to launch the world’s first driverless taxi trial. The startup had recently announced its plans to launch (https://www.dealstreetasia.com/stories/nutonomy-2018-singaporeself-driving-car-rides-80622/) a paid, commercial self-driving ride service in the city-state during the second quarter of next year.
According to media reports, Highland Capital Partners had also led a $23 million Series A round in nuTonomy last year that gave the company a pre-money valuation of $77 million ($100 million post-money).
nuTonomy was founded in 2013 by Karl Iagnemma and Emilio Frazzoli. The company develops a proprietary full-stack autonomous driving software solution for the global market. It has a 100-people team that includes 70 engineers and scientists.
“Joining forces with Delphi brings us one step closer to achieving our goal with a market-leading partner whose vision directly aligns with ours. Together we will set the global standard for excellence in autonomous driving technology,” said nuTonomy co-founder and CEO Iagnemma.
“The combination of the nuTonomy and Ottomatika AD teams, along with Delphi’s industry-leading portfolio of perception systems and smart vehicle architecture solutions, further enhances our competitive position as the industry’s most formidable provider of autonomous mobility solution,” said Delphi’s president and chief executive officer Kevin Clark.
Following the deal completion, both the companies will jointly have 60 autonomous cars on the road across three continents by the end of this year.
GCA Advisors and Goldman Sachs are advising Delphi Automotive as financial advisors on this deal.
Other companies like Alphabet Inc’s Waymo and Uber Technologies (https://www.dealstreetasia.com/?s=Uber+Technologies) are also testing self-driving cars at various locations around the world.
Last month, Chinese startup Tusimple said it plans to test a fleet of self-driving trucks in Arizona and Shanghai next year. In August, Israel’s Oryx Vision, which is developing object sensors for self-driving cars, raised $50 million in a funding round led by Third Point Ventures and Walden Riverwood Ventures.
Also Read:
NuTonomy eyes launch of paid Singapore self-driving car rides by Q2 next year (https://www.dealstreetasia.com/stories/nutonomy-2018-singapore-self-driving-car-rides-80622/)
Singapore: NuTonomy, Grab partner to expand public trial of on-demand automated cars (https://www.dealstreetasia.com/stories/nutonomy-and-grab-partner-to-expand-public-trial-of-on-demandautomated-cars-54019/) Singapore government joins NuTonomy’s $16m Series A, city aims to be first to launch driverless taxis (https://www.dealstreetasia.com/stories/singapores-edbi-participates-in-16m-series-a-round-42034/)
