Avride Lands Up to $375 Million in Strategic Funding, Backed by Uber and Nebius
Avride, a pioneering force in autonomous driving technology, has announced that it has secured up to $375 million in strategic investments and commercial commitments from Uber Technologies, Inc. and Nebius Group. The new funding marks a significant milestone in Avride’s mission to accelerate the commercialization and adoption of AI-driven mobility solutions for both passenger transport and last-mile delivery.
This latest transaction deepens Avride’s collaboration with Uber, reinforcing a partnership that has already proven its potential through real-world applications. The investment will be used to expand Avride’s autonomous vehicle fleet, enhance its AI-driven technologies, and scale operations into new geographies, positioning the company as a central player in the rapidly evolving autonomous mobility landscape.
Strengthening a Growing Alliance with Uber
The funding builds on Avride’s existing multi-year strategic partnership with Uber, first announced in 2024. Under this agreement, Avride and Uber have been integrating their technologies to enable seamless on-demand autonomous ride and delivery services within the Uber ecosystem.
As part of the next phase of their collaboration, Avride’s first commercial robotaxi service on the Uber platform is scheduled to launch in Dallas by the end of 2025. This deployment will represent a major milestone for both companies, showcasing the potential of autonomous mobility to operate safely and efficiently at scale in a major U.S. city.
Avride’s delivery robots are already operational on Uber Eats, fulfilling orders for hundreds of restaurants across Jersey City, Austin, and Dallas. These robots navigate urban environments independently, using Avride’s proprietary autonomous driving software, which combines AI-based perception, path planning, and sensor fusion technologies. Their proven track record demonstrates Avride’s ability to deliver high-quality autonomous mobility solutions that work in real-world conditions.
A Strategic Investment to Accelerate Growth
The infusion of up to $375 million will allow Avride to pursue several key objectives:
- Fleet Expansion: Rapidly grow the number of autonomous vehicles and delivery robots deployed across multiple U.S. and international cities.
- AI-Driven Innovation: Invest in research and development to refine Avride’s advanced perception systems, navigation algorithms, and safety frameworks.
- Geographic Expansion: Enter new markets across North America, Europe, and Asia, targeting regions with supportive regulatory frameworks and strong consumer demand for mobility innovation.
- Operational Integration: Strengthen the synergy between Avride’s passenger vehicle and delivery robot divisions, which share technological foundations to optimize efficiency and performance.
According to the company, this funding will also enable Avride to recruit additional engineering and operations talent as it prepares for its next stage of commercial growth.
Leadership Perspectives on the Partnership
Arkady Volozh, Founder and CEO of Nebius Group, emphasized the long-term potential of the investment and the alignment of values between the companies:
We’re delighted to welcome Uber as a strategic investor that shares Avride’s vision and will enable the company to move further and faster in pioneering AI-driven autonomous transportation.”
Volozh highlighted that Nebius’s ongoing support reflects its belief in Avride’s technology leadership and its ability to bridge AI innovation with real-world mobility solutions.
Sarfraz Maredia, Global Head of Autonomous Mobility & Delivery at Uber, echoed this sentiment, noting how Avride’s systems complement Uber’s global mobility and logistics network:
We’re excited to continue deepening our partnership with Avride and look forward to introducing their impressive autonomous driving technologies to more people in more markets.”
For Dmitry Polishchuk, CEO of Avride, the collaboration represents both validation and acceleration:
“At Avride, we have a clear vision and a strong plan to make autonomous transportation an integral part of everyday life. We are thrilled to have world-class partners like Uber who share this vision and continue to support us.”
Polishchuk added that the company’s unified approach—developing both autonomous cars and delivery robots that share core technologies—gives Avride a unique advantage in the race toward scalable, AI-driven mobility ecosystems.
A Dual Approach: Cars and Robots Working Together
Avride’s technology strategy stands out in the industry for its dual development model, where advancements in one domain directly enhance performance in the other. The company’s autonomous cars and delivery robots are built upon a shared software and sensor platform, allowing for rapid data-driven improvements across both product lines.
This approach accelerates learning cycles and reduces development costs, while ensuring the same level of safety and reliability across all vehicle types. The delivery robots, for example, operate in dynamic urban environments, continuously feeding back valuable real-world data that improves the AI models used in Avride’s larger autonomous vehicles.
Since its founding in 2017, Avride has invested heavily in creating technologies that not only address current urban mobility challenges—such as congestion, emissions, and last-mile inefficiencies—but also anticipate future demands for smart, connected, and sustainable transportation.
The company’s systems leverage deep learning, sensor fusion, LiDAR-based mapping, and adaptive path planning, enabling them to navigate complex cityscapes with precision and safety.
About Avride
Headquartered in Austin, Texas, Avride is a leading U.S.-based developer and operator of autonomous vehicles and delivery robots, supported by global research and development hubs across North America, Europe, and Asia.
Avride’s autonomous systems are already performing hundreds of thousands of successful deliveries both in the United States and internationally, demonstrating scalability, reliability, and commercial readiness. The company’s mission is to make autonomous transportation a natural and accessible part of everyday life, whether for passengers, food delivery, or logistics.
By combining robotics, AI, and cloud technologies, Avride is creating a unified platform for next-generation mobility that prioritizes safety, sustainability, and convenience.
About Uber
Founded in 2010, Uber Technologies, Inc. revolutionized urban transportation by introducing the concept of rides at the touch of a button. Since then, Uber has expanded its services to include ride-hailing, food delivery, freight, and micromobility solutions, completing over 64 billion trips worldwide.
Uber’s mission is to create opportunity through movement—transforming how people, food, and goods move through cities. The company continues to push the boundaries of mobility innovation, with autonomous vehicles representing the next frontier in Uber’s long-term strategy to deliver safe, efficient, and sustainable transportation globally.
About Nebius Group
Nebius Group (NASDAQ: NBIS) is a technology company headquartered in Amsterdam and listed on Nasdaq, specializing in AI-native cloud infrastructure. With R&D centers across Europe, North America, and Israel, Nebius provides the foundational compute and data solutions that power advanced artificial intelligence applications worldwide.
Its flagship offering, Nebius AI Cloud, is built for intensive AI workloads, providing the compute power, storage, and managed services required by developers and enterprises to train and deploy AI models at scale.
Beyond its cloud business, Nebius operates or invests in several technology ventures, including:
- Avride, a leader in autonomous vehicle and delivery robot technologies.
- TripleTen, a U.S.-based edtech company focused on reskilling individuals for tech careers.
- ClickHouse and Toloka, companies specializing in data processing and AI model optimization.
Accelerating the Future of Mobility
The partnership between Avride, Uber, and Nebius underscores a broader trend in the global mobility landscape: the convergence of AI, cloud computing, and autonomous systems to redefine transportation as we know it.
With Uber’s vast platform and mobility network, Nebius’s AI infrastructure expertise, and Avride’s cutting-edge autonomous technologies, the collaboration sets the stage for a new era of intelligent, efficient, and accessible transportation.
As Avride prepares to roll out its robotaxi service in Dallas by late 2025, the company is not just deploying vehicles—it is laying the foundation for a future where AI-powered autonomy transforms how people and goods move around the world.
