Aurora opens first commercial route for driverless trucks

Aurora Innovation

01/11/2023 13:00

Nov 1 (Reuters) - Aurora Innovation  AUR.O  on Wednesday
opened its first lane for driverless trucks connecting Dallas
and Houston, supported by its commercial trucking terminal in
Houston, ahead of a launch in 2024.
    "Bringing our commercial-ready terminals and services online
a year ahead of our planned commercial driverless launch between
Dallas and Houston enables us to focus next year on integrating
our driver-ready trucks into our customers' operations," said
Chief Product Officer Sterling Anderson.
    Aurora said it would operate its terminals day and night,
which will support more than 75 commercial loads for pilot
customers.
    The company will support its terminals with Command Centers
which will include staff who monitor and guide the fleet.
    Aurora's move comes as federal investigations have been
launched into General Motors'  GM.N  autonomous vehicle unit
Cruise, and the California Department of Motor Vehicles ordered
Cruise's self driving cars to be removed from state roads citing
safety concerns.
    Aurora's portfolio of products includes Aurora Driver, its
self-driving technology that can be employed across vehicle
types, and driverless trucking subscription service Aurora
Horizon.
    Aurora has partnerships with Uber Technologies  UBER.N ,
Toyota  7203.T , Volvo  VOLVb.ST , and PACCAR  PCAR.O , among
others. 

 (Reporting by Zaheer Kachwala in Bengaluru; Editing by Varun H
K)
 ((Zaheer.Kachwala@thomsonreuters.com;))