Back in February, Uber announced a strategic partnership with Carnegie Mellon University’s robotic research group: an initiative the ride-hailing service said was meant to help it develop driverless-car technology. Now, in an apparent move to deepen that alliance, Uber has just revealed that it is giving $5.5 million to the university to support a new robotics faculty chair as well as sponsor three graduate fellowships.

“We’re pumped to be part of a growing innovation ecosystem in Pittsburgh that includes world leading research institutions and companies, as well as an increasing number of start-ups,” Travis Kalanick, Uber’s CEO, said in a blog post announcing the endowment.

It’s an interesting move from Uber, the undisputed giant of ride-hailing apps, and a company that has gained notoriety for its obsession with growth. Even after five years, the company is still expanding rapidly; in spite of regulatory hurdles, it’s still muscling its way into new markets, both in the US and abroad.

But another reason for Uber’s outpouring of generosity could be its, ahem, unique relationship with Carnegie Mellon. Not too long after the announcement of their partnership, according to severalreports, Uber hired away dozen’s of CMU’s scientists, leaving one of the world’s top robotics institutions in a crisis. Some viewed Uber luring these researchers away as a good thing, certifying the academic institution as a place of opportunity. Indeed, Uber has provided desirable jobs to researchers from other, more unconventional sources in the past, including hiring the two hackers who wirelessly hijacked an Internet-connected Jeep.

But others may see the move more as a way to make amends with Carnegie Mellon. And certainly, with competitors like Google bearing down on Uber’s as-yet-unattained dream “to make transportation as reliable as running water” (read: self-driving cars), the ride-hailing giant needs all the allies it can get.