Self-driving tech startup Aurora Innovation’s second-quarter loss widened greater than sixfold because it logged a big impairment cost and continued to ramp up spending on autonomous heavy-duty vehicles and robotaxis.
The Pittsburgh firm mentioned its web loss widened to $1.2 billion from $182 million in the identical interval a yr earlier.
The loss included a $1 billion cost as a result of a big drop in market capitalization triggered a noncash expense to cut back the carrying worth of goodwill. Aurora’s market worth has plunged from $13 billion to $3 billion for the reason that begin of the yr.
Absent that, Aurora spent $184 million on R&D, its primary working expense. That in contrast with $160 million in the identical interval a yr earlier.
The corporate reported $21 million in income because it launched autonomous trucking as a service for a handful of pilot shoppers. Aurora had no income within the second quarter of 2021.
Freight first technique
Aurora is working with a number of companions, together with Toyota, Paccar’s Peterbilt model and Volvo Vehicles, to develop self-driving expertise for vehicles and robotaxis. It additionally has autonomous freight hauling pilot applications with FedEx, Uber Freight and motor carriers Werner and Schneider Nationwide.
“We will be placing extra emphasis on trucking and ensuring that product makes it to market,” Chris Urmson, Aurora’s CEO and co-founder, mentioned throughout a Wednesday convention name with trade analysts and buyers.
“We nonetheless see worth within the ride-share market,” he mentioned. “However vehicles would be the first facet of our technique.”
The precedence is displaying up within the forms of autos Aurora has on public roads: 20 autonomous Class 8 tractors and eight self-driving Toyota Sienna minivans.
The corporate is also ramping up freight hauling. Aurora averaged 14 masses per week within the second quarter. That can rise to 40 by the top of this yr and 100 in late 2023. Aurora’s freight operations are on two Texas routes: Dallas/Houston and Fort Value/El Paso. The corporate plans to step by step prolong and add routes and improve the amount of products hauled.
Ample money reserves
Regardless of the numerous loss, Aurora CFO Richard Tame mentioned the corporate has ample reserves to get it effectively into 2024, together with $1.4 billion in short-term investments. Aurora is also making sufficient headway on its highway map to autonomous driving commercialization to draw new funding, he mentioned.
“We anticipate progress alongside the highway map will help us having the ability to entry the capital markets when the time is correct,” Tame mentioned. “Now we have the flexibility to attend and see what’s taking place available in the market.”
Tame mentioned Aurora expects to extend its income in 2023 and 2024 as the corporate scales the variety of vehicles in its growth program.
“From our perspective, we do not anticipate to point out industrial income till we now have autos with out operators,” he mentioned.
Aurora has a security driver aboard its vehicles however will pull the human at some future level.
“Our product is just not meant to tug masses with human drivers; it is to have an autonomously enabled platform and not using a human driver,” Tame mentioned.