Why Nuro thinks being a robotaxi ‘second mover’ gives it an advantage

Nuro, founded by veterans of Google’s self-driving project, believes it can become a major robotaxi player despite Waymo’s lead. After shifting from delivery robots to robotaxis in 2024, the company signed deals with Uber and Lucid to deploy tens of thousands of vehicles across the US, bringing in hundreds of millions of dollars.

Nuro is betting that being a second mover lets it learn from Waymo’s costly path while leaning on partners for vehicles, demand, and distribution. The strategy reflects a broader trend toward autonomous vehicle companies using alliances to scale faster rather than building every part of the stack themselves.

Waymo is the undisputed leader in the robotaxi space, operating a fleet of over 3,000 driverless cars in at least 10 cities across the US. A number of companies, including Tesla, Zoox, Avride, and Motional, are racing to catch up with the Alphabet-owned firm. But what if being No. 2 was actually better? Nuro, the delivery robot company created by veterans of Google's self-driving car project, thinks it has a decent shot at occupying the slot. After pivoting from delivery to robotaxis in 2024, Nuro struck a deal with Uber and Lucid to deploy tens of thousands of robotaxis all across the US - netting itself hundreds of millions of dollars in … Read the full story at The Verge.