Today, Nuro has announced a new $500 million Series C funding round, led by funds and accounts advised by T. Rowe Price Associates, Inc., with participation from new investors including Fidelity Management & Research Company, LLC. and Baillie Gifford. Existing investors SoftBank Vision Fund 1 and Greylock are also investing in the round.

The new money will be used to hire engineers and launch manufacturing, according to Ferguson. The initial R2 vehicles are produced by Roush Enterprises in suburban Detroit.

Nuro is a robotics company transforming local commerce through autonomous delivery. The company develops and operates a fleet of self-driving vehicles that deliver local goods of all kinds, from dinner to dry cleaning. Nuro's service helps merchants deliver goods to customers quickly, affordably, and safely. Led by world-renowned experts in robotics, artificial intelligence, computer vision, and product design, the company began making driverless deliveries to the public in 2018.

In addition to the testing in the Bay Area, Nuro is operating test vehicles in Houston, Scottsdale, Arizona and near its headquarters in Mountain View, California.