Nuro, the Silicon Valley AV startup backed by Nvidia, Uber, and SoftBank, has begun testing its self-driving software on public roads in Tokyo — its first international expansion. Toyota Prius vehicles with human safety operators are running in the city, where Nuro's software faces new challenges including left-side driving, dense traffic, and different road signs. Nuro's autonomy stack uses an end-to-end AI foundation model it calls 'zero-shot autonomous driving,' which allowed the system to navigate Tokyo streets without prior training on Japanese driving data. The company, which pivoted in 2024 from operating delivery bots to licensing its tech to automakers and mobility providers, hints at further global expansions. Safety testing includes closed-course evaluation, simulation, and shadow-mode operation before full autonomous deployment.
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