According to Bloomberg News, Aurora Innovation Inc Chief Executive Chris Urmson recently outlined several options for the self-driving tech firm to combat challenging market conditions, including a possible sale to Apple Inc (AAPL.O) or Microsoft Corp.
Many electric-vehicle and self-driving startups that raised cash easily during the market boom through IPOs and mergers with blank-check firms are now scrambling to launch vehicles and burning cash quickly amid a bleak economy and supply-chain snarls.
Reuters reported in 2020 that Apple was progressing with its self-driving car technology and aiming for a passenger vehicle with its own breakthrough battery technology in 2024.
Microsoft, on the other hand, has invested in the San Francisco-based self-driving car company Cruise, which is valued at $30 billion and has a majority stake in General Motors Co.
Urmson, who co-founded Aurora after leading Google parent Alphabet Inc’s self-driving car project, also proposed cost-cutting measures, taking the company private, and spinning off or selling assets, according to the report, citing an internal memo.
Aurora did not respond.
Shares of the company closed 15% higher on Friday, but have lost nearly 80% this year, indicating the company’s struggles since going public with a blank-check firm late last year. It has a market capitalization of approximately $2.4 billion.
Aurora announced last month that the delivery of its scalable autonomous freight trucks would be delayed by a year, to the first half of 2024, citing supply constraints.
According to the Bloomberg report, other options Urmson suggested in the memo included buying companies in the sector with $150 million to $300 million in cash and freezing hiring and laying off employees.
