Uber self-driving division may receive $1B investment led by SoftBank
The group would take a minority stake in Uber's autonomy division.
Uber is in discussions to receive an investment of $1 billion lead by holding company SoftBank and automaker Toyota, Reuters and The Wall Street Journal report. The investment would reportedly be specifically in Uber's self-driving technology department, and comes as Uber is heading towards an initial public offering of stock. The self-driving division itself would reportedly be valued at between $5 and $10 billion.
While few details on the investment have been confirmed yet, both SoftBank and Toyota have already plugged money into autonomous-car technology. The former previously invested in Uber and in 2018 made a $2.25 billion investment in General Motors' self-driving car division. Toyota, in addition to pursuing its own research and development in autonomy, last year invested $500 million into Uber's self-driving division.
The investment comes as Reuters reports that Uber's research into self-driving cars is, "costing the money-losing startup hundreds of millions of dollars without generating revenue." This week, TechCrunch reported that at one point Uber was spending $20 million per month on its self-driving division, with the ambitious goal of having 75,000 autonomous vehicles on the road by this year.
It remains to be seen which other companies are involved with the rumored investment in Uber's self-driving technology, as The Wall Street Journal reports that that the investment group includes "other investors, including at least one auto maker." The deal is reportedly expected to be completed as soon as next month.
