Aurorino Innovation, a startup in self-driving vehicle technology, said it had successfully launched autonomous truck services in Texas, becoming the first company to deploy driverless, rugged trucks for commercial use on public roads in the United States.
The release is the same as when Aurora reaches its deadline. In October, the company postponed its 2024 debut to April 2025. The debut comes five months after rival Kodiak Robotics delivered its first autonomous customer to commercial customers for unmanned operation in an off-road environment.
Aurora says it has started operating cargo with launch customers Hirschbach Motorline and Uber cargo this week between Dallas and Houston, completing 1,200 miles on a single driverless self-driving truck. The company will build “dozens of self-driving trucks” and plan to expand to El Paso and Phoenix by the end of 2025.
Aurora continues to transport “more than 100 commercial cargo” to customers with a fleet of over 30 monitored autonomous trucks each week, according to a company spokesperson.
Aurora’s plan is to start unmanned truck operations by owning, maintaining and assuring their own trucks for their customers. The company is working with its strategic partners Volvo Trucks and PACCAR to develop autonomous trucks for large volumes of manufacturing. Aurora expects customers to purchase these trucks directly from the manufacturer from before 2027.
CEO Chris Ulmson said in a statement that the Aurora driver “played perfectly” during his first trip, but TechCrunch reached out to know if the system needs to implement pullover operations or require remote human assistance.
Aurora commercial launches are coming at a challenging time. Self-driving trucking companies have long thrown the need for technology due to the labor shortage of long-haul trucking and the expected growth in freight. Trump’s tariffs have changed that outlook, at least in the short term. A report from the ACT Survey on Commercial Vehicle Industry Analytics Company in April shows that freight will decline this year, and freight will decline as a decline in consumer spending.
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Aurora spokesman noted that trucking faces other challenges, such as a surge in operating costs and well-utilized assets, depending on how cargo pullbacks affect Aurora’s business.
Aurora will report their first quarter results next week. This is when we share how we hope that the current trade war will affect future businesses. TechCrunch reached out to learn more about how tariffs affect Aurora’s business.
For now, Aurora will focus on continuing to prove safety litigation without a driver, working with state and federal lawmakers to adopt favorable policies to help expand.
In early 2025, Aurora filed a lawsuit against federal safety regulators after the court rejected a request to exempt safety requirements, including placing warning triangles on roads when trucks need to be pulled on highways.
To follow that rule and deploy completely unmanned services, it makes sense to trail human-driven cars whenever the Aurora is in operation.
An Aurora spokesperson said the company does not require lead vehicles, tracking vehicles or police escorts for unmanned operations. She has not yet explained how Aurora operates without a driver while complying with federal safety regulations.
This article has been updated with more information and comments from Aurora spokespersons.
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