Aurora is ramping up operations and aims to launch a new technology platform in early 2026 to support further scaling.
Dawn
Dawnthe only autonomous vehicle manufacturer to operate driverless long-haul trucks on public roads has revealed some remarkable facts about progress towards growing their fleet size and expanding freight operations. How; New technology and new suppliers.
“Six months before launch, we’re achieving more industry initiatives, expanding rapidly and paving the way for the deployment of hundreds of trucks next year,” said Chris Urmson, co-founder and CEO of Aurora. “Expanding to El Paso, going over 100,000 driverless miles and integrating our new hardware with multiple truck platforms extends our strong lead.”
Expanding the footprint of driverless operations
Aurora trucks now run in Texas from Fort Worth to El Paso, while continuing operations between Dallas and Houston. Customers for the new merchandise lane include; Hirschbach and Russell Transport.
The trip from Fort Worth to El Paso is a 600-mile freight route that can take up to ten hours to complete. Autonomous trucks can drop off a load, pick up another load and return the other way. Contrast this with human-driven vehicles in which truck drivers are limited to eleven hours of driving in a 24-hour period, requiring rest periods.
And it’s not just about driver limitations. Consider how many hours a day a typical Class 8 truck sits idle because the driver is on a mandatory rest period. Therefore, the truck is a high-cost asset that is “offline” for much of the time. This has been a thorn in trucking operations from the start. Driverless trucks can significantly increase the use of these trucks with almost continuous operation.
As Aurora puts it, “Staffing challenges and the difficulty of completing the 10-hour route in one day make the route daunting for carriers, underscoring AuroraDriver’s value in providing reliable, round-the-clock operations.”
100,000 miles without a driver
Aurora says that, since their driverless launch in late April, their vehicles have logged 100,000 miles without a driver. In this way, the company achieves a perfect record of on-time performance and safety. Five driverless trucks now regularly transport customer loads.
Next generation hardware changes everything
Aurora notes that this next-generation hardware is more robust while also changing the cost game. The new generation system will be half the price of the current generation.
In addition, the platform will be more reliable, built to last over a million miles.
Sensing also gets a major upgrade. Aurora’s new generation FirstLight Lidar can detect objects at a distance of 1,000 meters, which is twice the distance of the current generation.
To support all-weather operations, Aurora has implemented improved sensor cleaning that allows the Aurora Driver to operate reliably in more severe weather conditions.
The new material is manufactured by Fabrinet and precedes the highly scalable material developed in conjunction with AUMOVIO (formerly Continental), which is scheduled for production in 2027 and is expected to enable the development of tens of thousands of trucks.
Simultaneous platform integration
Aurora Driver’s common core architecture enables seamless integration across multiple truck platforms. The new hardware is integrated with the Volvo VNL Autonomous, where the integration takes place at Volvo’s New River Valley production facility.
“Integrating Aurora’s next-generation hardware with Volvo VNL Autonomous on the pilot line at our New River Valley facility marks an industry-first collaboration and highlights the significant progress we are making together,” said Nils Jaeger, President of Volvo Autonomous Solutions. “By building trucks purpose-built for autonomy, we’re moving beyond prototypes and creating scalable solutions that are ready to meet the demands of a modern supply chain.”
PACCAR continues to test its autonomous truck platform at its facilities, which Aurora will then integrate with the highly scalable hardware jointly developed with AUMOVIO.
Expanding customer capacity through a new source
Aurora is also buying International LT series vehicles to provide customers with greater driverless capacity in 2026. Aurora has successfully begun testing the new fleet on its indoor test track. Upon completion of a closed safety case for these trucks, Aurora plans to carry partner-requested unobserved cargo in the second quarter of 2026 and already has customer interest in this capacity.
I understand this is a limited partnership. Aurora will perform all necessary retrofits required for driverless operations. Both parties agreed that Aurora alone decides when the trucks will operate without a driver.
But what about…
Watchers of the autonomous truck space will know that International has partnered with PlusAI to debut driverless truck products. The partners have previously said they are aiming for a commercial launch in 2027.
This was reinforced in a joint International-PlusAI press release today. “We are excited about the progress we are making on our autonomy program with our global autonomy partner PlusAI. Based on our fleet testing in Texas, working with NVIDIA and PlusAI is an important step on our path to production,” said Tobias Glitterstam, Senior Vice President and Chief Strategy & Transformation Officer at International.
It’s clear from talking to both Aurora and PlusAI that there are two very different scenarios at play. PlusAI is the chosen supplier for International / TRATON to bring driverless products to the global market. Aurora is a buyer of international vehicles, which Aurora will retrofit with the necessary hardware and software to operate without a driver, thus expanding its fleet.
Regulatory movements
In related Washington news, Aurora’s bid to operate hundreds of trucks next year has received a boost from regulators. After a protracted process with the USDOT that began earlier this decade, the current administration has granted Aurora one waiver of warning lightswhich is an archaic requirement of every commercial truck driver that, when the vehicle stops on the shoulder of the road, the driver must place a simple warning triangle on the side of the road behind the truck. Skeptics abound as to the wisdom of this approach in general, which would obviously be a challenge for a driverless truck. So an unnecessary hurdle seems to have been cleared for Aurora and this is likely to spread across the industry in the near term.
3Q results
of Aurora Business Review Call to address the third quarter 2025 results was released today, which provides more details on the above announcements. The company’s shareholder letter and financial results are available on the company’s investor relations website at ir.aurora.tech. Aurora will host a business review conference call today at 5:00 p.m. ET.
Disclosure: Richard Bishop is a Consultant and/or stockholder in the following companies mentioned in this article: Aurora, PlusAI.
