Uber Technologies Inc. is in late-stage talks with investors to raise $1 billion in funding for its self-driving car division according to an unconfirmed report today.

The Wall Street Journal, citing people familiar with the negotiations claims that Uber is discussing raising money with SoftBank’s Vision fund along with other investors, including one unnamed automaker. Uber is said to be offering a minority stake in the company on a valuation of between $5 billion and $10 billion.

Uber was first reported to be spinning off its self-driving vehicle division, currently part of the company’s Advanced Technologies Group, in October, but no details were ever confirmed.

It was reported at the time that Uber would retain operational control of the spinoff, but the new investors would both share the costs of developing the technology and reap the rewards should the technology ever get commercialized. The investment, should it be finalized, will occur before Uber finally goes public, likely sometime in the next three months.

It was reported yesterday that Uber hired “a string of underwriters” to help lay the groundwork for its initial public offering. The paperwork for the IPO was confidentially lodged with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in December.

The report that Uber is in late-stage talks to raise money for its self-driving car division comes days after rival Waymo LLC was reported to be doing the same thing. A report March 11 suggested that Waymo, a division of Alphabet Inc., was seeking financing from European automakers such as Volkswagen AG.

One suggested reason for Waymo raising funds was to help share costs prior to the commercialization of the technology, a similar reasoning to that of Uber.

The different between the two, though, is notable.

While Uber is reported to be spending $20 million a month ($240 million a year) on their autonomous vehicle development efforts, Waymo is reportedly spending at least $1 billion a year in its efforts.

Uber itself has raised $24.2 billion to date. It’s likely that at least some existing investors will participate in the round into the self-driving car division. Among those investors, possibly the “unnamed automaker,” is Toyota Motor Corp.

Photo: zombieit/Flickr