Driving Houston’s Transition to A Low-Carbon Future

More than 100,000 oil, gas and chemical industry workers in the Houston area have been impacted by the pandemic. At the same time, the momentum towards achieving significant carbon reduction and renewable energy adoption promises long-term shifts in the energy industry. That’s why, during Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm’s visit to Houston in June, she promoted “expanding the pie” when it comes to energy jobs and why Mayor Turner and community leaders are working to diversify the region’s economy.

Currently, 1 in 4 jobs in greater Houston are in oil and gas production, pipelines and refining, and petrochemicals. When indirect and induced jobs related to the energy sector are factored in, that number rises to 40 percent of Houston’s total jobs. Up to 650,000 jobs could be at risk from the global economy’s transition away from fossil fuels. Earlier this year, the Greater Houston Partnership unveiled a blueprint for transitioning away from jobs in oil, gas, and coal to new sources of energy that dramatically lower greenhouse gas emissions, including zero-emissions technologies such as Nuro’s R2 electric delivery bot.

At Nuro, many of the skilled workers from the energy industry are finding a career in a quickly growing green technology industry. We were drawn to Houston due to the diversity of its metropolitan environment and support for innovative technology companies. The city is also ripe with diverse talent from people carrying transferable skills from the energy sector and the military, with Nuro and other growing industries benefiting from Harris County having the largest veteran population in the U.S.

“We are excited about Nuro’s growth in Houston and their commitment to reskilling our local tech-focused workforce,” said Bob Harvey, president and CEO of the Greater Houston Partnership, Houston’s principal business organization. “Our region is committed to leading the global energy transition to a low carbon future, and innovative, green companies like Nuro are key to that effort.”

In addition to the jobs created directly at Nuro, autonomous delivery has the potential to make fast, affordable home delivery widely available for essential goods, such as groceries or medicine, adding employees at your neighborhood market, for example, who pick/bag items, then place them in Nuro vehicles. Even more jobs are created in the community to support the service: warehousing and storage, maintenance, business ops, and more. Zero-emission autonomous vehicles can help Houston create green jobs through the planning and building of electrification infrastructure necessary to scale our delivery system. Together, companies such as Nuro that are growing in the Silicon Bayou can create an ecosystem of innovation and green energy.

Nuro plans to increase its 2021 Houston headcount by 55% by the end of the year. This follows a previous 200% increase in Houston workers from 2019 to 2020. Nuro is hiring for roles with full benefits across skill levels ranging from high school graduates to MBAs. Come join us.

Meet Houston Employees Who Have Successfully Transferred Skills from Traditional Industries to Nuro

Meet Harini, who heads operations planning at Nuro and worked in oil and gas for several years around the world. In her current role, she ensures that Nuro’s operations activities are optimized to achieve company goals. “Operations planning is definitely a skill set that’s transferable.” She says that the skill sets you develop around managing a maintenance facility, management processes and operations, and scaling your capabilities in the field are particularly transferable.

Additionally, the oil and gas industry attracts a lot of different operators with varying skill levels. “So, when I think about roles such as [Nuro’s] Jr. Fleet Technicians, autonomous vehicle operators [AVO], and safety drivers, these are all great entry-level roles for those who are looking to make a career transition, but they are not aware that these are roles that are in line with the skills that they already possess.”

Meet Javier, an AVO who worked on numerous oil refinery shutdowns before transitioning to the solar industry. AVOs are responsible for safely operating our autonomous vehicles and robots, utilizing data to troubleshoot and provide feedback to Nuro engineers. Javier is now getting an opportunity to reskill and pursue his interest in software development at Nuro. With his solar background, knowing “how to read blueprints and how to wire things, opened up that curiosity to understand the technology on the autonomous vehicles. We worked with LIDAR, which we use here as well, so I already had an idea of what was going on with the [Nuro] technology.” He continued, “in solar, we would map out 3D models of people’s homes so that we can give them a proper quote and use LIDAR stacks to do that. It’s…the same thing we’re doing here, except we’re moving at the same time.”

Meet John, a Fleet Technician at Nuro who contracted with the Navy, and then worked in logistics and materials management at a refinery prior to working with autonomous vehicles. Fleet technicians maintain Nuro’s fleet of manual and autonomous vehicles and robots, executing installation/validation of our autonomous hardware and software systems, preventative maintenance, calibrations, and ongoing system troubleshooting. “Everything that came into the refinery went through me for capital projects and for general maintenance,” John says, which has prepared him for his current role. The Fleet Technician role involves “maintaining and upgrading all of the Prius vehicles and Bots that are out on the road…making sure everything’s flawless for robotic operations.”

Meet Erick, a veteran of the Army and National Guard who currently works as an AVO instructor at Nuro. He found the skills honed serving as an instructor in the military have supported his promotion within the company. “The military focuses a lot on training leaders. This revolves around having confidence in yourself, maintaining professionalism, and owning accountability — all learned skills I’ve carried with me to Nuro.”