Aurora Innovation Stock Puts Self Driving in the Fast Line

Stock for Aurora Innovation is now available following shareholder approval for a merger with a SPAC. The SPAC prices Aurora stock at an affordable offering in the pre-merger stage, but that could change as investors continue to buy into the hype.

Here's what investors should know about Aurora stock, including what price shares for the self-driving brand will IPO at.

Pittsburgh-based Aurora Innovations announced the completion of its business combination with a blank-check company called Reinvent Technology Partners Y.

The SPAC took Aurora public on Nov. 4 following shareholder approval in a special meeting a few days prior.

Chris Urmson, the co-founder and CEO of Aurora, wrote in a press release, "Today marks a significant milestone for Aurora and the self-driving industry as we revolutionize transportation—making it safer, increasingly accessible, and more reliable and efficient than ever before."

Aurora's transition to the public market under the ticker "AUR" is a huge move, but it isn't the first major stride the company has achieved. The self-driving technology company already has partnerships in place with major automakers Volvo and Paccar.

When Aurora and its SPAC first announced the proposed deal in July, they divulged a projected combined business entity worth $2.5 billion. In the deal, SPAC shareholders received $755 million of shares at $10 a pop.

Also, new Aurora stock maintains a four-year lockup period. This means employees and existing shareholders can't dump their positions once the share value increases. Every year, a quarter of the shares will be released out of the lockup.

Aurora is known for its flagship product, the Aurora Driver. The technology enables any vehicle platform (ranging from sedans to tractor trailers), to do all it needs to do without a human in the driver's seat.

Aurora is en route to launch its autonomous commercial trucking business Aurora Horizon by late 2023. By 2024, the company plans to release its driverless ride-hailing business, Aurora Connect.

Aurora has a unique business model that the company refers to as DaaS (Driver-as-a-Service). Ideally, fleet owners will invest in vehicles powered by the Aurora Driver, subscribe to the ongoing Aurora Driver services, and use Aurora-certified partners to operate at their best. The company refers to this holistic involvement as the Aurora Ecosystem.

Aurora's IPO stock dropped on Nov. 4. By late morning, Reinvent Technology Partners Y SPAC stock had changed its ticker from "RTPY" to "AUR," which represents the shift to the new face of the company. The name change is coming next. Opening up newly public stock for retail investors (whether through a SPAC or a traditional IPO) usually takes a few hours.

Until this point, self-driving technology investments have been intertwined with other, more diverse offerings (think Waymo under Google stock, for example).

As Mark Pincus, the co-founder and director of Reinvent Technology Partners Y, puts it, "We believe Aurora is the best way to invest in the future of self-driving across segments, and we look forward to supporting Aurora as it transforms how goods and people move through the world."