Automotive supplier Delphi has acquired nuTonomy, the MIT self-driving startup that was among the first companies to test an autonomous platform with public passengers in Singapore last year.
The acquisition strengthens nuTonomy's efforts to put its vehicles on roads around the world and gives Delphi's self-driving program a boost, as the two companies will merge into one self-driving development team. More than 100 nuTonomy employees will move to double Delphi's current roster of about 100 workers focused on developing autonomous systems, a number that includes about 70 engineers and scientists.
Delphi will pay $400 million up front for nuTonomy, with an extra $50 million tabbed for earn-outs. The deal isn't as large as some of the others we've seen in the self-driving space, but with nuTonomy's track record with public testing, it's still an important one.
NuTonomy will maintain its current Boston HQ, where Delphi is already also testing its autonomous platform. The two companies will combine their efforts there and in Singapore, and expand to other Delphi pilots in Pittsburgh, Santa Monica, and Silicon Valley. Delphi says its international test fleet will grow to number 60 autonomous vehicles across three continents after the acquisition.
The deal won't affect any of the partnerships either company has agreed to, meaning nuTonomy's highly-publicized Boston project with Lyft will proceed as planned, and its alliances with ride-hailing company Grab and Peugeot parent company Groupe PSA in Singapore are still intact.
Delphi, meanwhile, has partnered with Intel, Mobileye, and BMW to create an platform for self-driving cars. The company also owns Ottomatika, a similar self-driving startup that spun off from Carnegie Mellon University before its acquisition in 2015.
The acquisition will strengthen nuTonomy's presence in the areas where it operates pilot programs, and gives Delphi a proven brand that has extensive on-road experience. Delphi will be able to now combine nuTonomy's platform with the system it built based on Ottomatika's tech, which the company hopes will bring fully self-driving cars to the streets even sooner.
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