Autonomous vehicle technology startup Aurora Innovation says it has successfully launched a self-driving truck service in Texas, making it the first company to deploy driverless, heavy-duty trucks for commercial use on public roads in the U.S.
The launch comes just as Aurora hits its deadline: in October, the company delayed its planned 2024 debut to April 2025. The debut also comes five months after rival Kodiak Robotics delivered its first autonomous trucks to a commercial customer for driverless operations in off-road environments.
Aurora says it began running freight this week between Dallas and Houston with its launch customers Hirschbach Motor Lines and Uber Freight, and that it has completed 1,200 miles without a driver so far. The company plans to expand to El Paso and Phoenix by the end of 2025.
TechCrunch has reached out for more details on the launch, like how many vehicles Aurora deployed and whether the system needed to implement a pullover maneuver or required remote human assistance.
Aurora’s commercial launch comes at a challenging time. Self-driving truck companies have long pitched the necessity of their technology due to labor shortages in long-haul trucking and an expected growth in freight shipping. Trump’s tariffs have changed that outlook, at least in the short term. According to an April report from commercial vehicle industry analysis firm ACT Research, freight is expected to decrease in the U.S. this year as volumes and consumer spending decline.
Aurora will be reporting its first-quarter results next week, which is when it will also share how it expects the current trade war to affect its future business. TechCrunch has reached out to learn more about how tariffs affect Aurora’s business.
For now, Aurora will likely focus on continuing to prove its safety case without a driver, and work with state and federal legislators to adopt favorable policies to help it expand.
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At the start of 2025, Aurora brought a suit against federal safety regulators after a court denied its request to be exempt from a safety requirement that involves placing warning triangles on the road when a truck needs to pull over on the highway – something that is difficult to do when there’s no driver in the vehicle. In order to remain in compliance with that rule and still deploy a fully driverless service, Aurora likely has a human-driven car trail its trucks whenever they’re in operation.
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