Autonomous vehicle developer Nuro has begun public road testing in Las Vegas, marking a step forward in the company’s strategy to develop and license self-driving technology for broader commercial applications.
The Silicon Valley-based firm said it has started testing its self-driving system, NuroDriver, along the Las Vegas Strip and surrounding urban streets. The company has operated a closed-course facility in the city since 2021, but this is its first deployment on public roads in the area.
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The tests will involve modified Toyota Prius vehicles—referred to internally as the P2 model—equipped with Nuro’s suite of autonomous technologies, including radar, lidar, cameras, and high-performance computing powered by Nvidia’s Drive Thor chip and Arm’s Neoverse CPU. Initially, the vehicles will be staffed with safety drivers and used primarily to collect data and assess complex urban traffic scenarios.
We’re now testing on public roads in Las Vegas, building on years of R&D and community roots. The Strip’s dynamic traffic environment makes it an ideal place to lay the groundwork for future partner deployments.
Why Vegas? Why now? 👇https://t.co/m0n7teDvHf pic.twitter.com/USJ8UaFA44— Nuro (@nuro) May 7, 2025
“The Strip is a densely traveled corridor with consistent demand, 24/7 activity and a mix of use cases,” the company said in a statement. “It reflects the kind of environment where autonomous vehicles can offer real value.”
The expansion follows a strategic pivot announced by Nuro in September 2023, shifting its focus away from building autonomous delivery vehicles toward licensing its AI-driven system for use across various platforms, including commercial fleets, ride-hailing services, and private vehicles. The transition came after the company underwent significant restructuring, including workforce reductions in 2022 and 2023.
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Las Vegas has become a favored location for autonomous vehicle testing due to its relatively permissive regulatory environment, attracting other operators such as Motional and Zoox.
Nuro’s Las Vegas deployment also follows its recent $106 million Series E funding round and its first international data-gathering effort in Japan. The company emphasized that the current testing is not a prelude to launching its own commercial service, but rather a demonstration of its technology’s capabilities for potential partners.