Aurora teams with US Xpress to build service around automated trucks

US Xpress Enterprises

14/02/2022 21:00

By Paul Lienert
    Feb 14 (Reuters) - Aurora Innovation Inc  AUR.O , a
developer of automated driving systems for heavy trucks, will
partner with US Xpress Enterprises Inc  USX.N , one of the
country’s largest trucking companies, to build a premium service
for freight carriers, the companies said on Monday.
    The collaboration is the latest in a string of tie-ups
forged by six-year-old Aurora, including partnerships with truck
manufacturers PACCAR Inc  PCAR.O  and Volvo Truck  VOLVb.ST  and
carriers FedEx Corp  FDX.N  and Uber Technologies Inc's  UBER.N 
Uber Freight.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N2QU6AD  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2T02FM
    Aurora, which is based in Mountain View, California, and
went public in November, joins a growing list of companies
aiming to automate heavy trucks, including Alphabet Inc's 
 GOOGL.O  Waymo and startups TuSimple Holdings Inc  TSP.O ,
Embark Technology Inc  EMBK.O , Plus and Kodiak.
    Aurora and U.S. Xpress said they envision “a future where
goods are transported by both human drivers and autonomous
trucks.”
    Aurora is building a service that includes a fully automated
driving system, as well as a suite of fleet management tools and
services, branded as Aurora Horizon.
    Founded in 2016 by Silicon Valley veterans Chris Urmson,
Sterling Anderson and Drew Bagnell, Aurora has said it plans to
launch fully driverless trucks by late 2023, with robotaxis to
follow a year later.

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FOCUS-Self-driving car companies zoom ahead, leaving U.S.
regulators behind     urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2UB258
Self-driving startup Aurora maps out commercial strategy   
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N2QU6AD
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 (Reporting by Paul Lienert in Detroit
Editing by Matthew Lewis)
 ((Paul.Lienert@thomsonreuters.com; mobile +1 313-670-2452;))