Delaware		7373		98-1562265
(State or other jurisdiction of		(Primary Standard Industrial		(I.R.S. Employer
incorporation or organization)		Classification Code Number)		Identification Number)

Damien Weiss		William Mouat, Esq.
Megan J. Baier		General Counsel
Mark G.C. Bass		Aurora Innovation, Inc.
Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, P.C.		1654 Smallman St
1301 Avenue of the Americas		Pittsburgh, PA 15222
New York, NY 10019		(888) 583-9506
Telephone: (212) 999-5800

Large accelerated filer		☐		Accelerated filer		☐
Non-accelerated filer		☒		Smaller reporting company		☐
				Emerging growth company		☒

PRELIMINARY PROSPECTUS		Subject to Completion		March 11, 2022

This prospectus is part of a registration statement on that we filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) using the “shelf” registration process. Under this shelf registration process, the selling securityholders hereunder may, from time to time, sell the securities offered by them described in this prospectus. We will not receive any proceeds from the sale by such selling securityholders of the securities offered by them described in this prospectus.

We may also provide a prospectus supplement or post-effective amendment to the registration statement to add information to, or update or change information contained in, this prospectus. You should read both this prospectus and any applicable prospectus supplement or post-effective amendment to the registration statement together with the additional information to which we refer you in the section of this prospectus titled “.”

Administration, RAND Corporation, Pitney Bowes, Department of Transportation, Department of Commerce, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Federal Highway Administration and the World Health Organization, as well as from filings of public companies in our industry and internal company surveys. These sources include government and industry sources. Industry publications and surveys generally state that the information contained therein has been obtained from sources believed to be reliable. Although we believe the industry and market data to be reliable as of the date of this prospectus, this information could prove to be inaccurate. Industry and market data could be wrong because of the method by which sources obtained their data and because information cannot always be verified with complete certainty due to the limits on the availability and reliability of raw data, the voluntary nature of the data gathering process and other limitations and uncertainties. Each publication, study and report is as of its original publication date (and not as of the date of this prospectus). Certain of these publications, studies and reports were published before and therefore do not reflect any impact any specific market or globally. In addition, we do not know all of the assumptions regarding general economic conditions or growth that were used in preparing the forecasts from the sources relied upon or cited herein. Neither we nor our stockholders can guarantee the accuracy or completeness of any such information contained in this prospectus.

“Aggregate Merger Consideration” are to the number of shares of Aurora common stock equal to the quotient obtained by dividing (i) $11.0 billion, representing value of Aurora, by (ii) $10.00.

“Legacy Aurora preferred stock” are to the Series Seed 1 preferred stock, Series Seed 2 preferred stock, Series A preferred stock, Series B preferred stock, stock, stock and stock of Legacy Aurora.

“Exchange Ratio” are to the quotient obtained by dividing (a) the Aggregate Merger Consideration by (b) the aggregate fully diluted number of shares of Legacy Aurora common stock issued and outstanding immediately prior to the Merger (which is (i) the aggregate number of shares of Legacy Aurora common stock (A) issued and outstanding immediately prior to the Merger, (B) issuable upon the conversion of the Legacy Aurora preferred stock immediately prior to the Merger, (C) issuable upon, or subject to, the exercise of Legacy Aurora Options (whether or not then vested or exercisable) that are outstanding immediately prior to the Merger, and (D) subject to Legacy Aurora RSU Awards (whether or not then vested) that are outstanding immediately prior to the Merger, (ii) a number of shares of Legacy Aurora common stock equal to (x) the aggregate exercise price of the Legacy Aurora Options described in clause (C) above (y) the Per Share Merger Consideration).

are to the Conversion Amendment, Preferred Stock Conversion, and the Exchange, in each case as set forth in the Merger Agreement.

“RTPY IPO registration statement” are to the Registration Statement on filed by RTPY in connection with its initial public offering, which became effective on March 18, 2021.

“RTPY units” and “units” are to the units of RTPY, each unit representing one RTPY Class A ordinary share one redeemable warrant to acquire one RTPY Class A ordinary share, that were offered and sold by RTPY in the RTPY IPO and registered pursuant to the RTPY IPO registration statement (less the number of units that have been separated into the underlying public shares and underlying warrants upon the request of the holder thereof).

“Stockholder Agreement” means that Stockholder Agreement entered into at Closing by and among Aurora, the Sponsor, certain affiliates of the Sponsor, and certain Legacy Aurora stockholders.

You should not rely upon forward-looking statements as predictions of future events. We have based the forward-looking statements contained in this prospectus primarily on our current expectations and projections about future events and trends that we believe may affect our business, operating results, financial condition and prospects. The outcome of the events described in these forward-looking statements is subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors, including those described in the section titled “” and elsewhere in this prospectus. Moreover, we operate in a very competitive and rapidly changing environment. New risks and uncertainties emerge from time to time and it is not possible for us to predict all risks and uncertainties that could have an impact on the forward-looking statements contained in this prospectus. We cannot assure you that the results, events and circumstances reflected in the forward-looking statements will be achieved or occur, and actual results, events or circumstances could differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements.

Solving self-driving is one of the most difficult engineering challenges of our generation. The industry can be characterized by a significant number of technical and commercial challenges, including an expectation for driving performance, large funding requirements, long vehicle development lead times, specialized skills and expertise requirements of personnel, inconsistent and evolving regulatory frameworks, a need to build public trust and brand image, and real world operation of an entirely new technology. If we are not able to overcome these challenges, our business, prospects, financial condition, and results of operations will be negatively impacted and our ability to create a viable business may not materialize at all.

Commercial deployment has taken longer in the self-driving industry than anticipated, and it may take us more time to complete our own technology development and commercialization than is currently projected. The achievement of broadly applicable self-driving technology will require further technology improvements including, for example, handling or unexpected actor behavior and inclement weather conditions. These improvements may take us longer than expected which would increase our capital requirements for technology development, delay our timeline to commercialization, and reduce the potential financial returns that may be expected from the business.

Self-driving technology is still nascent and is neither generally understood nor universally accepted. We are at risk of adverse publicity that stems from any public incident involving self-driving vehicles (whether involving Aurora or a competitor), which could result in decreased demand for our technology. Part of our commercialization plan includes public awareness and education campaigns, but this guarantees neither public nor customer acceptance of our services. If we cannot gain sufficient trust in our technology, we will be unable to commercialize as intended. We may also experience adverse publicity that argues self-driving technology is replacing human jobs and disrupting the economy. Such media attention could cause current and future partners to terminate their business with us, which would significantly impact our ability to make future sales.

Our business plan envisions a process for ownership and operation of Aurora-powered self-driving vehicles. Early in our commercialization, we intend to own or lease and operate a limited fleet and will invest in self-driving system hardware, base vehicles, and commercial facilities (such as freight terminals). We believe this firsthand experience will help us to harden our operational processes, service level agreements, and enable a more effective transition to working with external partners on operational activities. After this initial period of Aurora ownership and operation, we expect to transition to a Driver as a Service business model. Under this model, one or more third-party partners would own and operate Aurora-powered vehicles and would also manage activities such as financing, maintenance, cleaning, and fleet facilities.

Our success similarly hinges on the ability to attract, motivate, develop and retain a sufficient number of other highly skilled personnel, including software, hardware, systems engineering, automotive, safety, operations, design, finance, marketing, and support personnel. Competition for qualified highly skilled personnel can be strong, and we can provide no assurance that we will be successful in attracting or retaining such personnel now or in the future. Employees may be more likely to leave us if the shares of our capital stock they own or the shares of our capital stock underlying their equity incentive awards have significantly reduced in value or the vested shares of our capital stock they own or vested shares of our capital stock underlying their equity incentive awards have significantly appreciated. Many of our employees may receive significant proceeds from sales of our equity in the public markets once the applicable restrictions expire, which may reduce their motivation to continue to work for us. Further, any inability to recruit, develop and retain qualified employees may result in high employee turnover and may force us to pay significantly higher wages, which may harm our profitability.

From time to time, we may undertake acquisitions to add new products and technologies, acquire talent, form new strategic partnerships, or enter into new markets or geographies. In addition to possible stockholder approval, we may need approvals and licenses from relevant government authorities for such future acquisitions and to comply with any applicable laws and regulations, which could result in increased delay and costs, and may disrupt our business strategy if such approvals are ultimately denied. Furthermore, acquisitions and the subsequent integration of new assets, businesses, key personnel, partners and vendors and suppliers require significant attention from our management and could result in a diversion of resources from our existing business, which in turn could have an adverse effect on our operations. Additionally, acquired assets or businesses may not generate the financial results we expect. Key personnel or large numbers of employees who join Aurora through acquisitions may decide to leave Aurora to work for other businesses or competitors of Aurora, thereby diminishing the value of our acquisitions. Acquisitions could result in the use of substantial amounts of cash, potentially dilutive issuances of equity securities, the occurrence of significant goodwill impairment charges, amortization expenses for other intangible assets and exposure to potential unknown liabilities of the acquired business. For example, in January 2021, Aurora acquired Uber’s self driving unit, Apparate, an acquisition for which certain of the risks outlined above were, and continue to be, present. Apparate has a history of financial losses, which have (and will continue to) lead to increased losses for Aurora (versus if Aurora had not acquired Apparate), and which have and will continue to require increased cash spending by Aurora. Additionally, the acquisition and integration processes create a risk that management and employees of Aurora become distracted. Finally, the costs of identifying and consummating acquisitions may be significant. Failure to successfully identify, complete, manage and integrate acquisitions could materially and adversely affect our business, prospects, financial condition and results of operations, and could cause our stock price to decline.

A significant natural disaster, such as an earthquake, fire, flood, hurricane or significant power outage or other similar events, such as infectious disease outbreaks or pandemic events, including the pandemic

and its aftermath, could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. The pandemic and its aftermath may have the effect of heightening many of the other risks described in this “Risk Factors” section, such as the demand for our products, our ability to achieve or maintain profitability and our ability to raise additional capital in the future. We further note we have several offices located in the San Francisco Bay Area, a region known for seismic activity. In addition, natural disasters, acts of terrorism or war could cause disruptions in our remaining operations, our or our partners’ businesses, our suppliers’ or the economy as a whole. We also rely on information technology systems to communicate among our workforce and with third parties. Any disruption to our communications, whether caused by a natural disaster or by problems, such as power disruptions, could adversely affect our business. We do not have a formal disaster recovery plan or policy in place and do not currently require that our partners have such plans or policies in place. To the extent that any such disruptions result in development or commercialization delays or impede our partners’ and suppliers’ ability to timely deliver product components, or the deployment of our products, this could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

The spread of caused us to modify our business practices (including reducing employee travel, recommending that all personnel work from home and cancellation or reduction of physical participation in activities, meetings, events and conferences), and we may take further actions as may be required by government authorities or that we determine are in the best interests of our employees, partners and suppliers, and business partners. The pandemic could limit the ability of our partners, suppliers, and business partners to perform, including our ability to conduct and track operations for development testing.

Any recovery from the pandemic and related economic impact may be slowed or reversed by a variety of factors, such as, in the United States, the current widespread increase in infections. In addition, even after the pandemic has subsided, we may continue to experience adverse impacts to our business as a result of its global economic impact. Further, many of the factors discussed under Risk Factors in this prospectus are, and we anticipate will continue to be further, heightened or exacerbated by the impact of the pandemic.

Aurora has implemented a voluntary return to office policy for its employees. However, even after the pandemic has subsided, we may continue to experience an adverse impact to our business as a result of its global economic impact, including any recession that has occurred or may occur in the future. We do not yet know the full extent of impact on our business, our operations, or the global economy as a whole. However, the effects could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations, and we will continue to monitor the situation closely.

We are at risk for interruptions, outages and breaches of: operational systems, including business, financial, accounting, product development, data processing or production processes, owned by us or our third-party vendors or suppliers; facility security systems, owned by us or our third-party vendors or suppliers; technology owned by us or our third-party vendors or suppliers; our integrated software; or partners or or driver data that we process or our third-party vendors or suppliers process on our behalf. Such cyber incidents could materially disrupt operational systems; result in loss of intellectual property, trade secrets or other proprietary or competitively sensitive information; compromise certain information of partners, employees, suppliers, drivers or others; jeopardize the security of our facilities; or affect the performance of technology. A cyber incident could be caused by disasters, insiders (through inadvertence or with malicious intent) or malicious third parties (including nation-states or nation-state supported actors) using sophisticated, targeted methods to circumvent firewalls, encryption and other security defenses, including hacking, fraud, trickery or other forms of deception. The techniques used by cyber attackers change frequently and may be difficult to detect for long periods of time. Although we maintain and continue to develop information technology measures designed to protect us against intellectual property theft, data breaches and other cyber incidents, including a formal incident response plan, such measures will require updates and improvements, and we cannot guarantee that such measures will be adequate to detect, prevent or mitigate cyber incidents. The implementation, maintenance, segregation and improvement of these systems requires significant management time, support and cost. Moreover, there are inherent risks associated with developing, improving, expanding and updating current systems, including the disruption of our data management, procurement, production execution, finance, supply chain and sales and service processes. These risks may affect our ability to manage our data and inventory, procure parts or supplies or produce, sell, deliver and service our solutions, adequately protect our intellectual property or achieve and maintain compliance with, or realize available benefits under, applicable laws, regulations and contracts. We cannot be sure that the systems upon which we rely, including those of our third-party vendors or suppliers, will be effectively implemented, maintained or expanded as planned. If we do not successfully implement, maintain or expand these systems as planned, our operations may be disrupted, our ability to accurately and timely report our financial results could be impaired, and deficiencies may arise in our internal control over financial reporting, which may impact our ability to certify our financial results. Moreover, our proprietary information or intellectual property could be compromised or misappropriated, and our reputation may be adversely affected. If these systems do not operate as we expect them to, we may be required to expend significant resources to make corrections or find alternative sources for performing these functions.

There have been reports of vehicles being “hacked” to grant access to and operation of the vehicles to unauthorized persons. Aurora-powered vehicles contain complex IT systems and are designed with data connectivity. We are implementing security measures intended to prevent unauthorized access to the information technology networks and systems installed in our vehicles. However, hackers or unauthorized third parties may attempt to gain unauthorized access to modify, alter, and use such networks and systems to gain control of, or to change, our vehicles’ functionality, user interface and performance characteristics, or to access data stored in or

Our current and potential future operations and sales subject us to laws and regulations addressing privacy and the collection, use, storage, disclosure, transfer and protection of a variety of types of data. For example, the European Commission has adopted the General Data Protection Regulation and California enacted the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018, both of which provide for potentially material penalties for We may also be subject to additional privacy regulations in the future, including the California Privacy Rights Act of 2020 (when it goes into effect in 2023) or the Virginia Consumer Data Protection Act (when it goes into effect in 2023). These regimes may, among other things, impose data security requirements, disclosure requirements, and restrictions on data collection, uses, and sharing that may impact our operations and the development of our business. While, generally, we do not have access to, collect, store, process, or share information collected by our solutions unless our partners choose to proactively provide such information to us, our products may evolve both to address potential partner requirements or to add new features and functionality that may change our privacy obligations. Therefore, the full impact of these privacy regimes on our business is rapidly evolving across jurisdictions and remains uncertain at this time.

We are assessing the continually evolving privacy and data security regimes and measures we believe are appropriate in response. Since these data security regimes are evolving, uncertain and complex, especially for a global business like ours, we may need to update or enhance our compliance measures as our products, markets and demands further develop, and these updates or enhancements may require implementation costs. In addition, we may not be able to monitor and react to all developments in a timely manner. The compliance measures we do adopt may prove ineffective. Any failure, or perceived failure, by us to comply with current and future regulatory, partner or privacy, data protection, and information security requirements, or to prevent or mitigate security breaches, cyber-attacks, or improper access to, use of, or disclosure of data, or any security issues or cyber-attacks affecting us, could result in significant liability, costs (including the costs of mitigation and recovery), and a material loss of revenue resulting from the adverse impact on our reputation and brand, loss of proprietary information and data, disruption to our business and relationships, and diminished ability to retain or attract partners and Such events may result in governmental enforcement actions and prosecutions, private litigation, fines and penalties or adverse publicity, and could cause partners and to lose trust in us, which could have an adverse effect on our reputation and business.

In recent years, the United States and global economies suffered dramatic downturns as the result of the pandemic, a deterioration in the credit markets and related financial crisis as well as a variety of other factors including, among other things, extreme volatility in security prices, severely diminished liquidity and credit availability, ratings downgrades of certain investments and declining valuations of others. The United States and certain foreign governments have taken unprecedented actions in an attempt to address and rectify these extreme market and economic conditions by providing liquidity and stability to the financial markets. If the actions taken by these governments are not successful, the return of adverse economic conditions may negatively impact the demand for our technology and may negatively impact our ability to raise capital, if needed, on a timely basis and on acceptable terms or at all.

Accounting Standards Codification 815, Derivatives and Hedging (“ASC 815”), provides for the remeasurement of the fair value of such derivatives at each balance sheet date, with a or loss related to the change in the fair value being recognized in earnings in the statement of operations. As a result of the recurring fair value measurement, our financial statements and results of operations may fluctuate quarterly, based on factors, which are outside of our control. Due to the recurring fair value measurement, we expect that we will or losses on these financial instruments each reporting period and that the amount of such gains or losses could be material. The impact of changes in fair value on earnings may have an adverse effect on the market price of our securities.

In general, under Section 382 of the Code, a corporation that undergoes an “ownership change” is subject to limitations on its ability to use its net operating loss carryforwards, NOLs, to offset future taxable income. The limitations apply if a corporation undergoes an “ownership change,” which is generally defined as a greater than 50 percentage point change (by value) in its equity ownership by certain stockholders over a three-year period. If we have experienced an ownership change at any time since our incorporation, we may already be subject to limitations on our ability to utilize our existing NOLs and other tax attributes to offset taxable income or tax liability. In addition, future changes in our stock ownership, which may be outside of our control, may trigger an ownership change. Similar provisions of state tax law may also apply to limit our use of accumulated state tax attributes. As a result, even if we earn net taxable income in the future, our ability to use these or our NOL carryforwards and other tax attributes to offset such taxable income or tax liability may be subject to limitations, which could potentially result in increased future income tax liability to us.

There is also a risk that changes in law or regulatory changes made in response to the need for some jurisdictions to raise additional revenue to help counter the fiscal impact from the pandemic or for

Our self-driving technology is integrated into the vehicles of our OEM partners, while logistics services partners, ride-sharing partners and fleet service partners can act as both a customer and an operator of Aurora-powered vehicles. While we are providing our self-driving technology to these partners, they are simultaneously providing their vehicles, fleet operational activities, and, in some cases, access to

Partners and may be less likely to purchase our products if they are not convinced that our business will succeed or that our service, technology, and other operations will continue in the long term. Similarly, suppliers and other third parties will be less likely to invest time and resources in developing business relationships with us if they are not convinced that our business will succeed. Accordingly, in order to build and maintain our business, we must maintain confidence among partners, suppliers, analysts, ratings agencies and other parties in our products, long-term financial viability and business prospects. Maintaining such confidence may be particularly complicated by certain factors including those that are largely outside of our control, such as our limited operating history, unfamiliarity with our technology, any delays in scaling production, delivery and service operations to meet demand, competition and uncertainty regarding the future of self-driving vehicles or our other services compared with market expectations.

While we believe that we may be able to establish alternate supply relationships and can obtain or engineer replacement components for our single source and other components, we may be unable to do so in the short term (or at all) at prices or quality levels and/or on terms that are favorable to us and we may experience significant delays while our system to accept any replacement parts.

We are also subject to laws and regulations that commonly apply to businesses, such as those related to privacy and personal information, tax and consumer protection. These laws and regulations vary from

We may have to pay governmental entities or third parties for property damage and for investigation and remediation costs that they incurred in connection with any contamination at our current and former properties without regard to whether we knew of or caused the presence of the contaminants. Liability under these laws may be strict, joint and several, meaning that we could be liable for the costs of cleaning up environmental contamination regardless of fault or the amount of waste directly attributable to us. Even if more than one person may have been responsible for the contamination, each person covered by these environmental laws may be held responsible for all of the costs incurred. Environmental liabilities could arise and have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and performance. We do not believe, however, that pending environmental regulatory developments in this area will have a material effect on our capital expenditures or otherwise materially adversely affect its operations, operating costs, or competitive position.

activities, including the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (the “FCPA”), the U.K. Bribery Act 2010, and other anti-corruption laws and regulations. The FCPA and the U.K. Bribery Act 2010 prohibit us and our officers, directors, employees and business partners acting on our behalf, including agents, from corruptly offering, promising, authorizing or providing anything of value to a “foreign official” for the purposes of influencing official decisions or obtaining or retaining business or otherwise obtaining favorable treatment. The FCPA also requires companies to make and keep books, records and accounts that accurately reflect transactions and dispositions of assets and to maintain a system of adequate internal accounting controls. The U.K. Bribery Act 2010 also prohibits “commercial” bribery and soliciting or accepting bribes. A violation of these laws or regulations could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations and also our reputation. Our policies and procedures designed to ensure compliance with these regulations may not be sufficient and our directors, officers, employees, representatives, consultants, agents, and business partners could engage in improper conduct for which we may be held responsible.

with anti-corruption, anti-bribery, anti-money laundering or financial and economic sanctions laws could subject us to whistleblower complaints, adverse media coverage, investigations, and severe administrative, civil and criminal sanctions, collateral consequences, remedial measures and legal expenses, all of which could materially and adversely affect our business, prospects, financial condition and results of operations and also our reputation. In addition, changes in economic sanctions laws in the future could adversely impact our business and investments in our securities.

Our lidar technology is subject to the Electronic Product Radiation Control Provisions of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, as electronic product radiation includes laser technology. Regulations governing these products are intended to protect the public from hazardous or unnecessary exposure and are enforced by the FDA. Manufacturers are required to certify in product labeling and reports to the FDA that their products comply with applicable performance standards as well as maintain manufacturing, testing, and distribution records for their products. Failure to comply with these requirements could result in enforcement action by the FDA, which could require us to cease distribution of our products, recall or remediate products already distributed to partners or or subject us to FDA enforcement.

Our self-driving technology presents the risk of significant injury, including fatalities. We may be subject to claims if our technology is involved in an accident and persons are injured or purport to be injured. The occurrence of any errors or defects in our products could make us liable for damages and legal claims. In addition, we could incur significant costs to correct such issues, potentially including product recalls. Any negative publicity related to the perceived quality of our technology could affect our brand image, partner and demand, and could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. Also, liability claims may result in litigation, including class actions, the occurrence of which could be costly, lengthy and distracting and could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Any product recall of ours or our partners in the future may result in adverse publicity, damage our brand and could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. In the future, we may voluntarily or involuntarily initiate a recall if any vehicles powered by our self-driving technology prove to be defective or with applicable federal motor vehicle safety standards. Such recalls involve significant expense and diversion of management attention and other resources, which could materially and adversely affect our brand image in our target markets, as well as our business, prospects, financial condition and results of operations.

We cannot assure you that any patents will be issued with respect to our currently pending patent applications or that any trademarks will be registered with respect to our currently pending applications in a manner that gives us adequate defensive protection or competitive advantages, if at all, or that any patents issued to us or any trademarks registered by us will not be challenged, invalidated or circumvented. We have filed for patents and trademarks in the United States and in certain international jurisdictions, but such protections may not be available in all countries in which we operate or in which we seek to enforce our intellectual property rights, or may be difficult to enforce in practice. Our currently-issued and patent and trademark registrations and applications, and any future patents and trademarks that may be issued, registered or applied for, as applicable, may not provide sufficiently broad protection or may not prove to be enforceable in actions against alleged infringers. We also cannot be certain that the steps we have taken will prevent unauthorized use of our technology or the reverse engineering of our technology. Moreover, others may independently develop technologies that are competitive to us or infringe our intellectual property.

We rely on proprietary information (such as trade secrets, and confidential information) to protect intellectual property that may not be patentable or subject to copyright, trademark, trade dress or service mark protection, or that we believe is best protected by means that do not require public disclosure. We generally seek to protect this proprietary information by entering into confidentiality agreements, or consulting services or employment agreements that contain and provisions with our employees, consultants, contractors and third parties. However, we may fail to enter into the necessary agreements, and even if entered into, these agreements may be breached or may otherwise fail to prevent disclosure, third-party infringement or misappropriation of our proprietary information, may be limited as to their term and may not provide an adequate remedy in the event of unauthorized disclosure or use of proprietary information. Trade secrets or confidential information may also be willfully or unintentionally disclosed, including by employees, who may leave our company and join our competitors. We have limited control over the protection of trade secrets used by our current or future manufacturing partners and suppliers and could lose future trade secret protection if any unauthorized disclosure of such information occurs. In addition, our proprietary information may otherwise become known or be independently developed by our competitors or other third parties. To the extent that our employees, consultants, contractors, advisors and other third parties use intellectual property owned by others in their work for us, disputes may arise as to the rights in related or resulting and inventions. Costly and time-consuming litigation could be necessary to enforce and determine the scope of our proprietary rights, and failure to obtain or maintain protection for our proprietary information could adversely affect our competitive business position. Furthermore, laws regarding trade secret rights in certain markets where we operate may afford little or no protection to our trade secrets.

Our software contains components that are licensed under “open source,” “free” or other similar licenses. Open source software is made available to the general public on an basis under the terms of a license. Certain open source licenses may give rise to obligations to disclose or license our source code or other intellectual property rights if such open source software is integrated with our proprietary software or distributed in certain ways. We currently combine our proprietary software with open source software, but not in a manner that we believe requires the release of the source code of our proprietary software to the public. If we combine or distribute our proprietary software with open source software in a certain manner in the future, we could be required to release the source code to our proprietary software as open source software, or could be required to cease using the relevant open source software which might be costly to replace. Open source licensors also generally do not provide warranties or other contractual protections regarding infringement claims or the quality of the code. In addition, if the license terms for the open source software that we use change, we may be forced to our software, incur additional costs or discontinue the use of certain offerings if could not be accomplished in a timely manner. Although we monitor our use of open source software to avoid subjecting our offerings to unintended conditions, there is a risk that these licenses could be construed in a way that could impose unanticipated conditions or restrictions on our ability to commercialize our offerings. We cannot guarantee that we have incorporated open source software in our software in a manner that will not subject us to liability or in a manner that is consistent with our current policies and procedures.

We are an “emerging growth company” within the meaning of the Securities Act, as modified by the JOBS Act, and may take advantage of certain exemptions from various reporting requirements that are applicable to other public companies that are not emerging growth companies for as long as we continue to be an emerging growth company, including, but not limited to, not being required to comply with the auditor attestation requirements of Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation in our periodic reports and proxy statements, and exemptions from the requirements of holding a nonbinding advisory vote on executive compensation and shareholder approval of any golden parachute payments not previously approved. As a result, our shareholders may not have access to certain information they may deem important. We will remain an emerging growth company until the earliest of (i) the day we are deemed to be a large accelerated filer, which, in addition to certain other criteria, means the market value of our common equity that is held $700 million as of the end of the prior fiscal year’s second fiscal quarter, (ii) the last day of the fiscal year in which we have total annual gross revenue of $1.07 billion or more during such fiscal year, (iii) the date on which we have issued more than $1 billion in the prior three-year period and (iv) December 31, 2026. Investors may find our securities less attractive because we will rely on these exemptions. If some investors find our securities less attractive as a result of our reliance on these exemptions, the trading prices of our securities may be lower than they otherwise would be, there may be a less active trading market for our securities and the trading prices of our securities may be more volatile.

Subject to certain exceptions, the Sponsor and the Legacy Aurora Stockholders are contractually restricted from selling or transferring any of their shares of Aurora common stock (not including the shares of our common stock issued in the PIPE Investment pursuant to the terms of the Subscription Agreements or purchased in the public market) (the “Lock-up Shares”) for certain periods of time. Under the Registration Rights Agreement, such restrictions applicable to the Lock-up Parties’ (as defined in the Registration Rights Agreement) Lock-up Shares (as defined in the Registration Rights Agreement) begin at the Closing and end in tranches of 25% of the Lock-Up Parties’ Shares at each of (i) the one year anniversary of Closing, (ii) the anniversary of the Closing, (iii) the three-year anniversary of the Closing and (iv) the four-year anniversary of the Closing. Notwithstanding the foregoing, (i) each of the Aurora Founders may sell Registrable Securities (as defined in the Registration Rights Agreement) following the initial six months after the Closing up to an amount of $25 million each and (ii) if, after Closing, Aurora completes a transaction that results in a change of control, the Parties’ Shares are released from restriction immediately prior to such change of control. Under the Sponsor Agreement, the Sponsor’s Shares are subject to the same releases as the Parties’ Shares, except the Sponsor’s Shares do not contain the right to sell Registrable Shares held by the Aurora Founders, as described in the previous sentence.

Under the Bylaws, all shares held by Legacy Aurora Stockholders immediately prior to the closing are subject to began at the Closing and will end on the date that is 180 days following the Closing.

Future transfers by the holders of our Class B Common Stock will generally result in those shares converting into shares of our Class A Common Stock, subject to limited exceptions, such as certain transfers effected for estate planning or charitable purposes. In addition, each share of our Class B Common Stock will convert automatically into one share of our Class A Common Stock upon (i) the date specified by affirmative written election of the holders the then-outstanding shares of our Class B Common Stock, (ii) the date set by our board of directors that is no less than 61 days and no more than 180 days following the date on which the shares of our Class B Common Stock held by the Aurora Founders and their permitted entities and permitted transferees represent less than 20% of our Class B Common Stock held by the Aurora Founders and their permitted entities as of immediately following the closing of the Business Combination or (iii) nine months after the death or total disability of the last to die or become disabled of the Aurora Founders, or such later date not to exceed a total period of 18 months after such death or disability as may be approved by a majority of our independent directors. For information about our dual class structure, see the section titled “Description of Capital Stock.”

We cannot predict whether our dual class structure will result in a lower or more volatile market price of our Class A Common Stock or in adverse publicity or other adverse consequences. For example, certain index providers have announced restrictions on including companies with multiple-class share structures in certain of their indexes. In July 2017, FTSE Russell and S&P Dow Jones announced that they would cease to allow most newly public companies utilizing dual or multi-class capital structures to be included in their indices. Affected indices include the Russell 2000 and the S&P 500, S&P MidCap 400 and S&P SmallCap 600, which together make up the S&P Composite 1500. Beginning in 2017, MSCI, a leading stock index provider, opened public consultations on their treatment multi-class structures and temporarily barred new multi-class listings from certain of its indices; however, in October 2018, MSCI announced its decision to include equity securities “with unequal voting structures” in its indices and to launch a new index that specifically includes voting rights in its eligibility criteria. Under the announced policies, our dual class capital structure would make us ineligible for inclusion in certain indices, and as a result, mutual funds, exchange-traded funds and other investment vehicles that attempt to passively track those indices will not be investing in our stock. These policies are still fairly new and it is as of yet unclear what effect, if any, they will have on the valuations of publicly traded companies excluded from the indices, but it is possible that they may depress these valuations compared to those of other similar companies that are included. Because of our dual class structure, we will likely be excluded from certain of these indexes and we cannot assure you that other stock indexes will not take similar actions. Given the sustained flow of investment funds into passive strategies that seek to track certain indexes, exclusion from stock indexes would likely preclude investment by many of these funds and could make our Class A Common Stock less attractive to other investors. As a result, the market price of our Class A Common Stock could be adversely affected.

We have the ability to redeem the outstanding Public Warrants at any time prior to their expiration, at a price of $0.01 per warrant, if, and only if, the last reported sales price of our Class A Common Stock equals or exceeds $18.00 per share (as adjusted for adjustments to the number of shares issuable upon exercise or the exercise price of a warrant) for any 20 trading days within a 30 period ending on the third trading day prior to the date we send the notice of redemption to the warrant holders (the “Reference Value”). If and when the warrants become redeemable by us, we may exercise our redemption right even if we are unable to register or qualify the underlying securities for sale under all applicable state securities laws. Redemption of the outstanding warrants as described above could force you to: (1) exercise your warrants and pay the exercise price therefor at a time when it may be disadvantageous for you to do so; (2) sell your warrants at the then-current market price when you might otherwise wish to hold your warrants; or (3) accept the nominal redemption price which, at the time the outstanding warrants are called for redemption, we expect would be substantially less than the market value of your warrants. None of the Private Placement Warrants will be redeemable by us in such a case so long as they are held by the Sponsor or its permitted transferees, but the Sponsor has agreed to exercise all of its Private Placement Warrants for cash or on a “cashless basis” on or prior to the redemption date, in the event that the Reference Value exceeds $18.00 per share (as adjusted for adjustments to the number of shares issuable upon exercise or the exercise price of a warrant) and we elect to redeem the Public Warrants pursuant to the Warrant Agreement and notify the Sponsor of such election and the redemption date on or prior to the date we mail a notice of redemption to the holders of the Public Warrants.

If we fail to satisfy the continued listing requirements of Nasdaq such as the corporate governance requirements or the minimum closing bid price requirement, Nasdaq may take steps to delist our securities. Such a delisting would likely have a negative effect on the price of the securities and would impair your ability to sell or purchase the securities when you wish to do so. In the event of a delisting, we can provide no assurance that any action taken by us to restore compliance with listing requirements would allow our securities to become listed again, stabilize the market price or improve the liquidity of our securities, prevent our securities from dropping below the Nasdaq minimum bid price requirement or prevent Nasdaq’s listing requirements. Additionally, if our securities are not listed on, or become delisted from, Nasdaq for any reason, and are quoted on the OTC Bulletin Board, an inter-dealer automated quotation system for equity securities that is not a national securities exchange, the liquidity and price of our securities may be more limited than if we were quoted or listed on Nasdaq or another national securities exchange. You may be unable to sell your securities unless a market can be established or sustained.

Aurora is developing the Aurora Driver based on what it believes to be the most advanced and scalable suite of self-driving hardware, software, and data services in the world to fundamentally transform the over $9 trillion global transportation market. The Aurora Driver is designed as a platform to adapt and interoperate amongst vehicle types and applications. To date, it has been successfully integrated into eight different vehicle platforms: from passenger vehicles to light commercial vehicles to Class 8 trucks. By creating one driver system for multiple vehicle types and use cases, Aurora’s capabilities in one market reinforce and strengthen its competitive advantages in others. For example, highway driving capabilities developed for trucking will carry to highway segments driven by passenger vehicles in ride hailing applications. We believe this approach will enable us to target and transform multiple massive markets, including the $4 trillion global trucking market, the $5 trillion global passenger mobility market, and the $400 billion U.S. local goods delivery market.

As a consequence of the Business Combination, we became the successor to Nasdaq-listed company which requires us to hire additional personnel and implement procedures and processes to address public company regulatory requirements and customary practices. We expect to incur additional annual expenses as a public company for, among other things, directors’ and officers’ liability insurance, director fees and additional internal and external accounting and legal and administrative resources, including increased audit and legal fees.

The spread us to modify our business practices (including reducing employee travel, recommending that work from home and cancelling or reducing physical participation in activities, meetings, events and conferences), and we may take further actions as may be required by government authorities or that we determine are in the best interests of our employees, suppliers, and business partners. Aurora has implemented a voluntary return to office policy for its employees.

All of our products and services are in a research phase of development and do not involve physical customer interaction. Therefore, our ability to meet our business expectations and customers’ needs has not been materially impaired due to Even though the global economic implications remain

Since Aurora’s inception, we have focused on attracting and to solve self-driving’s most difficult challenges. We continue to invest heavily in employee recruitment and retention to advance our technology. Additionally, our team has made purposeful and foundational technological investments in key aspects of self-driving hardware and software. We believe these early investments in our technology will enable us to move toward commercialization more safely and quickly than would otherwise be possible. When we have deemed it to be beneficial, we have entered into strategic acquisitions to expand and accelerate our technology development.

We believe that our developmental approach provides us with meaningful technological advantages in areas such as our lidar technology, fusion of machine learning and engineered approaches, common driver platform, virtual testing, and high definition maps. The successful execution of these details of self-driving technology is what we believe will allow us to differentiate ourselves by developing leading self-driving technology that can safely and reliably navigate its environment. By developing a substantial part of this ensure that the various inputs and components of our autonomy stack integrate successfully and reduce our reliance on third parties for key aspects of our commercial product offering.

Key customers in trucking and private fleets. To meet these customers’ needs, we have formed strategic partnerships with two leading truck OEMs who together represent approximately 50% of the U.S. Class 8 truck sales. Aurora’s strategic partnerships with truck OEMs include PACCAR (representing Peterbilt & Kenworth brands) and Volvo Trucks. Our OEM partnerships represent an ability to deploy self-driving trucks at scale, allowing the Aurora Driver to expand quickly. We expect to launch the Aurora Driver for the trucking market in late 2023. Currently, there is a significant driver shortage and we expect to provide access to safe, efficient, and consistent operation at an attractive total cost of ownership (“TCO”). We see our existing partner base as a substantial competitive advantage.

with Uber provides us access to Uber network data to refine market selection, to enable better roadmap prioritization, and to optimize commercial fleet operations in an effort to further develop and monetize our Aurora Driver for passenger mobility. We are collaborating with Toyota to integrate the Aurora Driver into driverless-capable Toyota Sienna minivans. We expect to launch the Aurora Driver for the passenger mobility market in late 2024. Over time, we anticipate the Aurora Driver will allow ride hailing to be offered at price points that are more cost-competitive with personal vehicle ownership.

Once we reach commercialization, our DaaS business model will become our primary revenue source. We expect to derive recurring revenue charged to users of the Aurora Driver. Recognition of this future revenue will be subject to the terms of any arrangements with our partners or users, which have not yet been negotiated. To date, we have not recorded any revenue under this model.

Research and development increased by $517.9 million in 2021, or 288.61%, to $697.3 million in 2021 from $179.4 million in 2020, primarily driven by an increase in headcount from continued hiring to effectively scale the growth of our business. Payroll costs related to research and development increased $246.2 million, stock-based compensation increased $195.9 million, software development costs increased $52.2 million, and hardware development costs increased $24.2 million.

Expense recognized for the change in fair value of derivative liabilities increased by $20.1 million in 2021 due to the $12.5 million increase in the fair value of the warrant liabilities and the $7.7 million increase in the Earnout Shares liability. These liability classified financial instruments were recognized in connection with the Business Combination when the Company effectively issued public and Private Placement Warrants as well as shares to the Sponsor of RTPY that contain price-based vesting criteria. The $98.0 million fair value of the liabilities at Closing was as of December 31, 2021 to $118.1 million.

In 2021, we sold convertible preferred stock for net proceeds of approximately $397.9 million in January. In November of 2021, we received proceeds of $1,175 million, net of RTPY’s liabilities, in the Business Combination.

Net cash used in operating activities was $563.3 million for the year-ended December 31, 2021 and was primarily comprised of normal cash operating expenses, including research and development and selling, general and administrative expenses. Changes in operating assets and liabilities decreased cash flows from operations by $104.1 million, primarily due to a $35.8 million decrease in accrued expenses and other current and liabilities and a $32.5 million increase in contract asset.

Net cash used in operating activities of $191.9 million for the year-ended December 31, 2020 was primarily comprised of normal cash operating expenses, including research and development and selling, general and administrative expenses. Changes in operating assets and liabilities decreased cash flows from operations by $11.4 million, primarily due to an increase in prepaid expenses and other current assets and in other assets of $11.7 million and $14.0 million, respectively. The decrease from changes in operating assets and liabilities was partially offset by an increase in accrued expenses and other current and liabilities of $13.7 million.

Net cash provided by financing activities increased by $1,538.4 million from December 31, 2020 to December 31, 2021, due to net proceeds from the Business Combination of $1,134.0 million and net proceeds from the issue of Series preferred stock of $397.9 million in 2021.

Net cash provided by financing activities was $1,539.8 million for the year-ended December 31, 2021, primarily due to net proceeds from the Business Combination of $1,134 million and net proceeds from issuance of series preferred stock of $397.9 million.

Our future contractual commitments related to future minimum payments for purchase obligations at December 31, 2021 are $52.6 million in 2022, $62.8 million in 2023, $62.4 million in 2024, $64.0 million in 2025, and $27.1 million in 2026. Our future contractual commitments related to future minimum payments under operating leases at December 31, 2021 are $24.2 million in 2022, $24.9 million in 2023, $24.4 million in 2024, $22.7 million in 2025, $20.6 million in 20256 and $60.8 million thereafter.

Intangible assets with indefinite lives consist of research and development (“IPR&D”). We test these assets for potential impairment annually as of December 31 of each fiscal year. These assets are tested annually for impairment until completion. If a potential impairment is identified, the process of evaluating the potential impairment of these assets involve significant judgment regarding estimates of the future cash flows associated with each asset.

Section 102(b)(1) of the JOBS Act exempts emerging growth companies from being required to comply with new or revised financial accounting standards until private companies are required to comply with the new or revised financial accounting standards. The JOBS Act provides that a company can elect not to take advantage of the extended transition period and comply with the requirements that apply to growth companies, and any such election to not take advantage of the extended transition period is irrevocable. We are an “emerging growth company” as defined in Section 2(a) of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and has elected to take advantage of the benefits of this extended transition period. This may make it difficult to compare our financial results with the financial results of other public companies that are either not emerging growth companies or emerging growth companies that have chosen not to take advantage of the extended transition period.

We do not believe that an increase or decrease in interest rates of points would have a material effect on our business, financial condition or results of operations. Fluctuations in the value of our money market funds caused by a change in interest rates (gains or losses on the carrying value) are recorded in other income and are realized only if we sell the underlying securities.

Our first-principles approach, which we define as “Self-Driving 2.0,” underpins our technology development strategy for the Aurora Driver. We made foundational investments early on, based on our prior experience in the self-driving industry, that allow us to accelerate development and position our platform for long-term scalability. Some of these foundational investments include developing the Aurora Driver with what we believe to be the optimal combination of machine-learned and rule-based approaches. We have also built a proprietary Virtual Testing Suite, which makes our development more efficient and faster than traditional approaches that rely heavily on vehicle fleets. While many companies in the self-driving industry tout miles driven as a metric, our Virtual Testing Suite allows us to iterate faster and more efficiently, while reducing our reliance on testing.

To bring our product to market at scale, we focus on what we do best—building self-driving technology—and through strategic partnerships work with companies to deliver the benefits of our technology broadly. We have strategic partnerships with:

As of December 31, 2021, we have assembled an approximately team, consisting of leading experts in robotics, machine learning, hardware design, software engineering, systems engineering, and safety. We believe that our combined experience and expertise allow us to move faster and more efficiently than our competitors as we make purposeful, foundational technological investments in safe and scalable self-driving technology.

The concept of self-driving vehicles has captured the human imagination for nearly a century. Early demonstrations, led by academics and industry experts, have shown both the promise of this technology as well as the difficulty of its development. These scattered efforts were jump started in the early 2000s when the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) sponsored a series of open competitions to focus and accelerate the efforts of various research groups. Our Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Chris Urmson was the technical director for the Carnegie Mellon University team that progressed furthest in the first DARPA competition in 2004 and won the final, long urban driving challenge in 2007.

We believe technological advancements in ride-hailing and lower structural costs, enabled by self-driving technology, will expand ride-hailing into more passenger mobility use cases and drive mass adoption, further democratizing access to mobility. We aim to improve the rider experience through the quality, cleanliness, and consistency of the Aurora Driver-powered fleet while also offering more rider control over the experience (e.g. music, climate). Future vehicle platforms may be designed to support specific transportation use cases (e.g. airport trips, commutes, social rides) that further improve the experience offered today.

Our third core market is local goods delivery, which we estimate to be a $100 billion market in the United States and $400 billion globally, growing at more than 10% annually, based on public filings and industry reports. This market spans several including last-mile parcel and post, prepared food, grocery, and (B2B) delivery.

The pandemic has highlighted the importance of local goods delivery, as well as the supply chain disruptions that can be experienced when consumer behavior changes abruptly. We expect consumer demand for online shopping and ordering will largely remain in place following the pandemic and that retailers, restaurants, and other local businesses will seek to address these preferences through expanded delivery channels. Self-driving technology can provide meaningful value in making and purchases more affordable for consumers and more accessible to businesses.

Relative to trucking and passenger mobility, we believe local goods delivery has more advanced technical complexity given active problem-solving related to identifying appropriate locations and completion of the “last 50 feet” of goods delivery from vehicle to door. We expect that the Aurora Driver will be uniquely positioned to serve this market based on reinforcing competitive advantages and technical gains from trucking and ride hailing. We expect the operating domain for local goods delivery to overlap closely with personal mobility and commercial operations of local goods delivery to commence following personal mobility launch.

Aurora was founded in 2017 by Chris Urmson, Sterling Anderson, and Drew Bagnell, three leaders in the self-driving space. Chris led the Google self-driving car team and was technology director for Carnegie Mellon when it won the 2007 DARPA Urban Challenge; Sterling developed MIT’s Intelligent CoPilot, then launched Tesla’s Model X and Autopilot; Drew worked for two decades at the intersection of machine learning and robotics across industry and academia at Carnegie Mellon. As of December 31, 2021, Aurora has assembled an approximately team, of whom approximately 1,400 focus on engineering and product. Our company consists of world-leaders in robotics, machine learning, hardware design, software engineering, systems engineering, and safety. Aurora has over 1,100 awarded and pending patents worldwide. In 2021, Aurora acquired and integrated Uber’s self-driving unit, strengthening our team, our technology, and our intellectual property. The acquisition added to the breadth and depth of talent we have to deliver on our mission. We foster a high-performance and mission-driven culture which drives successful execution, and we believe this makes us an employer of choice in our industry.