Autonomous vehicle company Nuro has unveiled its third-generation autonomous delivery vehicle. The zero-occupant vehicle simply called Nuro, is expected to scale its services to millions of people across the country.
Nuro’s third-generation vehicle is designed to carry more goods and enable more deliveries, with twice the cargo volume of the company’s second generation vehicle. The automotive production-grade vehicle will also feature modular inserts to customize storage and new temperature-controlled compartments to keep goods warm or cool.
The introduction of the new model furthers Nuro’s ongoing commitment to sustainability through fully electric and zero emissions vehicles. Nuro is also announcing it will use 100% renewable energy for all vehicle charging and facilities for the first time starting this month.
Goods
Since all of Nuro’s vehicles are designed specifically for transporting goods and not passengers, the new vehicle continues to prioritize the safety of other road users and in particular pedestrians and cyclists. Safety enhancements will include an external air bag to further improve safety for pedestrians outside the vehicle, as well as a multi-modal sensing suite, including cameras, radars, lidar and thermal cameras, creating a redundant 360-degree view of the world to keep track of its surroundings.
The new model will be produced in a supplier partnership with BYD North America and completed at Nuro’s new $40 million end-of-line manufacturing facility and closed-course test track in southern Nevada. The facilities have the capacity to manufacture and test tens of thousands of delivery vehicles per year to ensure they are ready for deployment. BYD North America—part of one of the largest OEM networks of electric vehicles in the world—will assemble globally sourced hardware components for the vehicle platforms; Nuro will complete the final steps of manufacturing and make the autonomous vehicles ready for deployment.
Nuro’s southern Nevada facilities are expected to be fully operational this year and will allow the company to manufacture its autonomous vehicles. The facilities are expected to create an initial 250 highly skilled career opportunities with long-term growth potential in the autonomous vehicle industry.
