Pittsburgh-based Aurora Innovation recently opened lanes for driverless trucks in Dallas and Houston.
The lanes are supported by commercial-ready terminals that service driverless trucks at a commercial scale. The terminals house, inspect, maintain, prepare, and deploy autonomous trucks between destinations. This maximizes the time autonomous trucks are hauling freight, decreases stops and promotes safe operations.
“Opening a driverless trucking lane flanked by commercially-ready terminals is an industry-first that unlocks our ability to launch our driverless trucking product,” Sterling Anderson, Aurora co-founder and chief product officer, said. “With this corridor’s launch, we’ve defined, refined, and validated the framework for the expansion of our network with the largest partner ecosystem in the autonomous trucking industry.”
Aurora selected the I-45 corridor between Dallas and Houston because nearly half of all truck freight in Texas moves along it. The Houston terminal is located in a logistics hub near its pilot customers, allowing customers to seamlessly integrate autonomous trucks into their middle-mile operations.
The company is preparing its Command Center, which already supports commercial pilot hauls, to support driverless missions.
Aurora’s Aurora Driver is a self-driving system designed to operate multiple vehicle types while supporting Aurora Horizon and Aurora Connect, driver-as-a-service products for trucking and ride-hailing.