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.