Aurora to run driverless truck routes in Texas via McLane deal
▼ Summary
– Aurora Innovation will begin driverless truck operations for McLane between Dallas and Houston, with a human observer in the cab but no safety driver.
– The commercial agreement expands from a 2023 pilot and will run seven days a week, with plans to add new routes across the U.S. Sun Belt by year-end.
– The autonomous trucks handle the long-haul portion, then transfer loads to a McLane driver for local deliveries to customers.
– This marks Aurora’s transition to a commercial operator, following prior deals with Detmar Logistics and a planned purchase of 500 trucks by Hirschbach Motor Lines.
– Aurora currently runs driverless routes between multiple Texas, Arizona, and New Mexico cities, and will report first-quarter earnings on Wednesday.
Aurora Innovation is taking the next major step in autonomous freight by launching driverless truck routes for distribution heavyweight McLane, marking the first commercial deployment under a newly signed agreement. The deal comes after a successful multi-year pilot program and positions Aurora as a growing commercial operator in the self-driving trucking space.
Under the terms announced Wednesday, trucks equipped with Aurora’s Level 4 autonomous driving system will haul freight between Dallas and Houston without a human safety driver behind the wheel. While no driver will be ready to take over, a “human observer” will still ride in the cab, a requirement tied to Aurora’s agreement with truck manufacturer Paccar. This observer does not operate the vehicle but monitors the system.
Aurora plans to extend the service to additional routes linking McLane distribution centers across the U. S. Sun Belt by the end of the year. The companies began their pilot in 2023 with a safety operator on board, eventually scaling to two round-trips daily between the two Texas cities. McLane recently gave the green light for fully driverless operations, which now run seven days a week.
The logistics model is notably hybrid. Aurora’s autonomous trucks handle the long-haul stretch between Dallas and Houston, then hand off the trailer to a McLane driver for local deliveries to customers such as fast-food restaurants. That handoff occurs at Aurora’s terminals in both cities, located just off the freeway.
This commercial contract is a significant milestone for Aurora as it shifts from being a developer of autonomous truck technology to a revenue-generating operator. It follows a year of progress since the company launched its commercial self-driving truck service in Texas. Since then, Aurora has secured a deal to haul frac sand for Detmar Logistics, and last month, Hirschbach Motor Lines agreed to purchase 500 trucks powered by Aurora’s system. That agreement, outlined in a memorandum of understanding, is expected to close later this year.
Currently, Aurora operates driverless trucks , some still carrying a human observer , on routes including Dallas to Houston, Fort Worth to El Paso, El Paso to Phoenix, Fort Worth to Phoenix, and Laredo to Dallas.
Aurora is scheduled to report its first-quarter earnings after the market closes Wednesday.
(Source: TechCrunch)
