Nauto raises $159 million in a Series B funding round; counts GM and Softbank as its investors

Nauto, a Silicon Valley startup developing software for self-driving vehicles, has raised $159 million capital from investors in a Series B funding round led by new investors General Motors, Softbank and venture capital firm Greylock Partners. Additionally, the previous investors German automaker BMW AG, Japanese automaker Toyota Motor Corp and German insurance firm Allianz took part in the round. Though GM invested in the self-driving startup, it is not the first investment of car marker in this industry. It has earlier bought Silicon Valley start-up Cruise Automation in early 2016 for more than $500 million.

Stefan Heck, founder and chief executive officer of Nauto, said that “Any (vehicle) manufacturer is better than any startup at building cars. Our aim is to provide the data, intelligence and a cloud platform” to automakers that plan to begin putting self-driving cars on the road from 2020”. Nauto is retrofitting windshields of commercial trucks from North America to Europe and Japan with dual cameras: one aimed at the road and the other at the driver. The goal is to gather data on driver distraction and on the environment around vehicles and speed development of self-driving technology.