# Uber Puts Autonomous Vehicle Program in Reverse, Selling to Aurora

Published 2020-12-14 · Updated 2026-07-23 · Transportation on MarketScale
Canonical: https://www.marketscale.com/industries/transportation/uber-puts-autonomous-vehicle-program-in-reverse-selling-to-aurora

> This week, Aurora, one of the nation’s leading self-driving startups, announced that they will become the new owner of Uber’s self-driving division—Uber Advanced Technology Group (ATG)—which focused on driverless taxis. In addition, Uber plans to further fuel the deal by pumping $400 million into Aurora while retaining a minority stake in the company and…

This week, Aurora, one of the nation’s leading self-driving startups, [announced](https://arstechnica.com/cars/2020/12/uber-sells-self-driving-project-to-startup-aurora/) that they will become the new owner of Uber’s self-driving division—Uber Advanced Technology Group (ATG)—which focused on driverless taxis. In addition, Uber plans to further fuel the deal by pumping $400 million into Aurora while retaining a minority stake in the company and placing their own CEO, Dara Khosrowshahi, on Aurora’s board.

MarketScale Radio hosts [Daniel Litwin](https://marketscale.com/industries/contributors/daniel-litwin/) and [Tyler Kern](https://marketscale.com/industries/contributors/tyler-kern/) break down the reasons for this and other business venture sell offs made by Uber this year, including continuing unprofitability, the 2018 lawsuit resulting from a pedestrian being struck and killed by an Uber ATG vehicle, another lawsuit alleging that the company had pilfered LiDar technology from Waymo—all of which left Uber’s self-driving division at a standstill over the last few years. Further, with OEMs like Volkswagen, Ford, etc., all choosing to invest in other self-driving technologies, Kern and Litwin also dive into how this Uber acquisition and a $400 million transfusion will augment Aurora’s pivot from licensing its self-driving technology specifically to automakers to self-driving long haul trucking instead. The guys also discuss how Prop 22 has affected the gig worker and Uber’s decision to let go of their self-driving division.

- After making it a staple of its long term business growth for years, Uber rids itself of its Advanced Technology Group.
- Self-driving vehicle startup Aurora will absorb the autonomous vehicle unit for applications in trucking.
- With the recent success of Prop 22 in California, could Ubers plan for reduced labor costs come from investments in legislation vs. AVs?

---
Source: MarketScale, https://www.marketscale.com/industries/transportation/uber-puts-autonomous-vehicle-program-in-reverse-selling-to-aurora. Published for AI indexing and citation; cite the canonical URL. Site guide for agents: https://www.marketscale.com/llms.txt