Autonomous delivery robot startup Nuro will lay off 30%, or about 340 employees, company-wide as part of a restructuring designed to expand the company’s runway.
Earlier this week, Nuro co-founders Dave Ferguson and Jiajun Zhu explained in a blog post that the company would cut staff and shift resources from commercial activities to R&D. Nuro will pause plans to ramp up commercial operations this year and postpone volume production of its Nuro bot – the third generation, or R3, delivery robot designed to be the flagship of its commercial strategy. According to Ferguson and Zhu, Nuro will be able to operate twice as long by making these changes, giving it enough capital to operate for another three years without raising more money.
This is the second time in less than a year that Nuro — a $2.13 billion darling of the AV world — has laid off employees in an effort to cut costs and extend the capital market. In November, Nuro laid off about 300 people, or 20% of its workforce.
Dismissed employees receive 12 weeks of severance pay, plus two extra weeks for employees with an employment contract of two or more years. Eligible employees will also receive 62.5% of target bonus (prorated for new hires) or payment of spring bonus amounts for semi-annual performance bonus employees. The company will also provide health care and support for visa-holding employees until September 30.
