糖心视频

Is 鈥檚 cash-burning autonomous vehicle unit about to get a large 鈥� as in $1 billion or more 鈥揷apital injection? It鈥檚 highly possible, according to indicating a group of investors including is putting money into the division.

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The Wall Street Journal that Uber, more formally known as Uber Technologies Inc., was in 鈥渓ate-stage鈥� discussions with a consortium that would invest in the startup鈥檚 self-driving vehicle division.

Reportedly, SoftBank鈥檚 and other investors, including at least one auto manufacturer that some are speculating to be , would end up with a minority stake in the unit at a valuation of between $5 billion and $10 billion. That Toyota would be involved isn鈥檛 shocking considering the automaker already invested $500 million in Uber as part of a deal last summer.

As we鈥檝e extensively reported, Uber is on the path to going public, having confidentially filed preliminary paperwork last December to list its shares on the open market in an initial public offering (IPO).

But its autonomous vehicle division has been a source of contention for investors. TechCrunch reported yesterday : The ride-hailing company was spending $20 million a month on developing self-driving technologies, according to court documents that were unsealed last week. Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal estimates that Uber spent about $750 million on building out self-driving technologies before scaling back in 2018.

As TechCrunch鈥檚 Mark Harris wrote:

鈥淭he figures, dating back to 2016, paint a picture of a company desperate to meet over-ambitious autonomy targets and one that is willing to spend freely, even recklessly, to get there.鈥�

(However, as Axios’ Joann Muller points out, such spending is聽 on this kind of technology.)

Since its rival, already filed its S-1 earlier this month, Uber is 鈥渂ehind鈥� in the IPO race. Its overall financials didn鈥檛 look so great either, as our EIC Alex Wilhelm reported last month. This deal would help in more ways than one. Besides giving it cash to continue developing the technology, having an auto company as a more invested partner should certainly help strategically.

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