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Uber's has confirmed that it will cease its autonomous car business after the closure of Toyota's $ 1 billion financing, Denso parts manufacturer and SoftBank Vision Fund.
The development has been speculative for some time – as early as October – and it serves both to remove a deeply unprofitable unit from Uber's main business: helping Uber to reduce some of its losses, while also giving Uber Uber ATG Group) more freedom to focus on the difficult challenge of bringing autonomous vehicles to market.
The transaction values Uber ATG at $ 7.25 billion, companies announced. With regard to the exact investment mechanisms, Toyota and Denso contributed $ 667 million, with the Vision Fund contributing the remaining $ 333 million.
The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter and offer investors a new vision of Uber's imminent IPO, which comes with Uber ATG. The company recorded a loss of $ 1.85 billion for 2018, but R & D efforts on "tonnages", such as self-driving cars and flying vehicles, led to lower figures leading to higher expenses than $ 450 million. The transfer of these capital-intensive R & D activities into a new entity will contribute to the achievement of Uber's key figures, but it is clear that much more needs to be done to break even or reach the bottom line. break even.
Yet these zany figures did not dampen the atmosphere. Uber is still considered a once-in-a-generation business, and the IPO is expected to generate about $ 10 billion, giving it a reported value of $ 90 billion to $ 100 billion.
Like the spin-out itself, the identity of the investors is not a surprise.
The Fund Vision Fund (and the parent company SoftBank) have been supporting Uber since the conclusion of an investment agreement in January 2018, while Toyota has injected $ 500 million into the company specializing in the sale since the month from last August. Toyota and Uber are striving to make Sienna vehicles self-sufficient for Uber by 2021, while SoftBank and Toyota are jointly developing services in their native Japan, which will be powered by autonomous vehicles.
The duo also supported Grab – the South Asian-based company Uber holds about 23% – perhaps more aggressively. SoftBank has been an investor since 2014 and last year, Toyota invested $ 1 billion in Grab, the highest investment it made in after-sales service.
"Leveraging the strengths of Uber ATG's autonomous vehicle service and technology network and Toyota Group vehicle control technology, mass production capabilities and advanced safety systems such as Toyota." Guardian will allow us to market safer and less expensive automated carpool vehicles. and services, "Shigeki Tomoyama, executive vice president of Toyota's Connected Enterprises Division, said in a statement.
The short version of Dara Khosrowshahi, CEO of Uber, on Twitter
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