• Nuro, an autonomous delivery vehicle (ADV) startup, has announced plans to build a manufacturing facility and a test track for its ADVs in southern Nevada, investing USD 40 million.

• The proposed manufacturing plant will spread across 125,000 million square feet, covering 80 acres of land, and will have the capacity to produce “tens of thousands” of ADVs, the company claims. Construction of the site will commence later this year and is expected to be completed by 2022.

• Nuro will work with the Chinese electric vehicle manufacturer BYD to supply electric drivetrains while Nuro develops all necessary software and digital infrastructure. 

• The proposed closed-course test track will help the company to validate the safety and accuracy of its ADVs, against constructed scenarios. The track will be located at the old Las Vegas Speedway site and will be operational next year.

<ul><li> Analyst QuickTake: Nuro is a pioneer in the LMD automation space. It was the first to secure a commercial deployment permit and it also has formed a strategic partnership with FedEx . Nuro is also by far the most funded startup in LMD automation with over USD 1.5 billion in funding raised to date. Scaling the manufacturing operations has been a key objective mentioned in its previous funding round s and the new manufacturing facility announced today can be considered as an important step towards achieving commercialization.</ul>