Uber has committed close to US$500m to autonomous vehicle startup Nuro through a combination of direct investment and milestone-linked funding, according to a Reuters report citing two sources familiar with the matter. The figure includes Uber’s participation in a US$203m Series E round that valued Nuro at US$6bn, a subsequent follow-on investment larger than the first, and further tranches contingent on Nuro hitting defined development and commercial targets. The first milestones have reportedly been met on schedule, triggering an initial release of performance-linked capital—a detail that may matter more than the headline figure. Remaining payments are tied to driverless testing scheduled to begin later in 2026, fully autonomous passenger operations before year-end, and broader service expansion through 2027. Nuro is currently running supervised testing with safety drivers in preparation for a commercial launch in the San Francisco Bay Area; in April it received a California permit to test Lucid Gravity vehicles without a safety driver in selected counties, and in May was cleared to carry passengers in supervised testing. The Nuro investment sits within a three-way arrangement that, of course, also involves Lucid. Under which the partners are working toward a fleet of 35,000 robotaxis using Lucid Gravity SUVs and future midsize models, Nuro’s autonomous software stack and Uber’s ride-hailing platform. Uber has separately committed US$500m to Lucid; Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund has also contributed a further US$550m in convertible preferred stock. The financial architecture around Uber’s autonomy strategy is becoming increasingly complex: alongside its Nuro and Lucid commitments, the company has deployed capital across Wayve, Rivian, Baidu, Waabi the Nvidia-Autobrains Munich programme, and more, simultaneously. At a certain scale, platform agnosticism starts to resemble a portfolio of large bets rather than a coherent strategy—and Uber has not yet had to answer publicly what the returns look like if