Aurora’s driverless trucks are making deliveries in Texas

After years of testing and validation, Aurora says its first fully autonomous tractor-trailers are operating on public highways in Texas. The company’s Class 8 trucks are now making customer deliveries between Dallas and Houston, having already completed 1,200 miles “without a driver,” Aurora said. The clients for these initial trips are Uber Freight, the ridehailing company’s trucking brokerage, and Hirschbach Motor Lines, a carrier that delivers time- and temperature-sensitive freight.

Aurora CEO Chris Urmson said he rode in the backseat during the first truck’s inaugural ride, which he called “the honor of a lifetime.”

“We founded Aurora to deliver the benefits of self-driving technology safely, quickly, and broadly,” Urmson said in a statement. “Now, we are the first company to successfully and safely operate a commercial driverless trucking service on public roads.”

Aurora said it plans to expand its driverless service to El Paso and Phoenix by the end of 2025.

Driverless trucks were once expected to precede robotaxis and personally owned autonomous vehicles in mass adoption, considering that highways are vastly less complex than city and residential streets. But self-driving truck operators have run into hurdles involving the technology and regulation that have delayed their public debut. Some companies, like Embark Trucks, TuSimple, and Locomation, have gone out of business, while others have cut plans to deploy driverless trucks as timelines have stretched into the future and funding has dried up.

Moreover, public opinion toward autonomous vehicles has trended downward, thanks in part to missteps of companies like Tesla and Cruise. But like Waymo, Aurora has placed its hopes on a measured, conservative approach to commercialization, as well as an emphasis on safety. 

Founded in 2017 by alumni of Uber, Tesla, and Waymo, Aurora had planned to deploy its fully autonomous trucks in 2024. But those plans got delayed until this year, with the company continuing to tweak its autonomous system for surface-street driving and construction sites.

Aurora says its technology presents a possible solution to the challenges currently facing the trucking industry, such as a trucker shortage, high turnover rates, and increasingly expensive operating costs. The company says its system can address these specific problems, while also reducing labor costs and heightening safety on the highway.

Aurora has spent four years conducting supervised pilot hauls, mostly in Texas, where it delivered over 10,000 customer loads across 3 million autonomous miles. The company says it has also demonstrated capabilities, such as predicting red light runners, avoiding collisions, and detecting pedestrians in the dark hundreds of meters away. And it has forged partnerships with a bunch of leading players in the trucking industry, including Continental, Volvo, Uber, and others.

The need to start charging customers for deliveries is evident if you look at Aurora’s earnings. In its most recent report, the company reported a net loss of $748 million for 2024, down from $796 million the previous year. While the loss decreased, Aurora’s revenue estimates have declined. Aurora expects to report its first quarter earnings on May 8th.