With a load of pastries, Aurora hits driverless truck milestone in Texas
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Aurora's driverless truck merges into traffic on I-45 in Texas. Photo courtesy of Aurora
Aurora Innovation said Thursday it has successfully launched a commercial self-driving trucking service in Texas, a milestone for the autonomous vehicle industry that came with a load of frozen pastries.
Why it matters: While driverless trucks on the highway may seem scary to some motorists, Aurora and other AV developers say the technology will make roads safer and help bolster a critical sector of the American economy, which often can't find enough drivers.
Driving the news: After four years of testing with humans behind the wheel, Aurora pulled the driver for the first time last Sunday, April 27, on a route between Dallas and Houston.
- The action came after Aurora completed its safety case — an evidence-based argument for why the technology is safe to deploy — and had recorded three million autonomous miles hauling more than 10,000 customer loads.
- Since the weekend, the Aurora Driver has completed over 1,200 autonomous miles with its launch partners, Uber Freight and Hirschbach Motor Lines, a refrigerated trucking carrier, the company said..
Between the lines: The milestone was a crowning achievement for Aurora co-founder and CEO Chris Urmson, considered a pioneer in autonomous vehicle technology.
- Urmson was also an early leader at Google's self-driving car project, now called Waymo. And people he led at Google went on to leadership positions at other AV startups.
- Urmson rode in the back of a cab hauling a Hirschbach trailer for the first round-trip journey between Dallas and Houston.
In a blog post, he described the experience as "surreal."
- "I'm cruising down the highway at 65 miles per hour, not behind the wheel, but in the rear seat, watching the scenery unfold as a truckload of pastries are driven by the technology I helped create," he wrote.
- "It's novel. It's technically extraordinary. And yet, it's all pretty boring. The driving is smooth, courteous and predictable. And of course, that's exactly the way it should be."
What's next: Aurora plans to expand its driverless service to El Paso, Texas and Phoenix, Arizona by the end of 2025.
- Other AV trucking companies plan to launch driverless service this year as well.
Editor's note: This story has been corrected to show Urmson rode in the back of Aurora's truck that was hauling a Hirschbach trailer.
