Fully driverless trucks could be hitting Texas highways as early as the end of 2024, thanks to Aurora, the self-driving trucking company. The company announced on Monday that it already has the necessary driving technology to deploy large freight trucks from Dallas to Houston.
Whilst other trucking companies have been testing the technology, Aurora is preparing to integrate autonomous driving technology into freight logistics, named Aurora Horizon. The company has made several investments in foundational technology and strategic decisions to reach this point. The latest advancements include Aurora Driver Beta 6.0, which includes the FirstLight lidar system, the Aurora Virtual Testing Suite, and Aurora Atlas – an HD mapping system.
Aurora began with plans to partner with Uber and Toyota back in 2019 to develop autonomous vehicles for transportation by the app. In 2021, the company began to work with the Uber Freight logistics platform, using it to transport shipments between Dallas and Houston.
The company anticipates its Aurora Horizon plan, along with its driverless shipping technology will allow it to deploy more than 20 driverless trucks from Dallas to Houston by the end of 2024, with an expectation to increase workloads to 100 loads per week. So far, the company currently transports loads more than 30 times a week throughout Texas, with freight partnerships with several key industry players.
Joining other autonomous vehicle testing projects in North Texas including Gatik, Waymo, Kodiak, and TuSimple, Aurora is successfully tapping into Texas’ burgeoning role as a testing ground for autonomous vehicle technology.
