Delphi purchased self driving startup NuTonomy

In October, 2017, Delphi Automotive acquired self-driving startup NuTonomy for $450 million, speeding up its plans to supply carmakers with autonomous vehicle systems.

NuTonomy will add more than 100 employees, including 70 engineers and scientists, to roughly double Delphi’s team developing autonomous driving software. The company was spun out from a research and technology alliance between Singapore and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and its backers include Ford Motor Co. Chairman Bill Ford’s venture capital fund.

Delphi is in the process of splitting into two companies by early next year, with one producing powertrains and the other developing self-driving systems and other newer technology. It’s planning to use NuTonomy to hasten the introduction of an autonomous robotaxi test fleet in Singapore by a year, to 2019.

When the deal closes later this year, Delphi will have autonomous driving operations in Boston, Pittsburgh, Singapore, Santa Monica, California, and Silicon Valley. Delphi said it’ll have 60 self-driving cars on roads across three continents by year-end. That number will grow to 150 by the end of 2018, a spokesman said.