Aurora Innovation, Inc., a company specializing in self-driving trucks, made an announcement on Wednesday about the commencement of their inaugural commercial trucking route.
According to Aurora, this new route is situated along I-45, connecting Dallas and Houston in Texas. The company is presently transporting over 75 shipments each week, and their operations run around the clock, catering to pilot customers. Although it’s not fully automated at the moment, Aurora plans to have this newly launched route operated entirely by driverless technology by late 2024.
In addition to this development, Aurora has recently established terminals in South Dallas and Houston to provide support for their new commercial route. The Houston terminal has been strategically placed in proximity to a logistics hub, which serves as a crucial support system for their pilot customers, including well-known companies like FedEx and others.
In order to facilitate their autonomous operations, Aurora is in the process of establishing a “Command Center.” This center will consist of a group of remote experts who oversee and offer guidance to the operational fleet of Aurora’s self-driving trucks. Additionally, they will have dispatchers responsible for assigning trucks, trailers, and vehicle operators to various tasks or missions.
“Opening a driverless trucking lane flanked by commercially-ready terminals is an industry-first that unlocks our ability to launch our driverless trucking product,” said Sterling Anderson, Co-Founder and Chief Product Officer at Aurora. “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 has stated that the commencement of the Dallas to Houston route is just one component of a broader rollout of autonomous trucking services scheduled for 2024.
“Bringing our commercial-ready terminals and services online a year ahead of our planned commercial driverless launch between Dallas and Houston enables us to focus next year on integrating our Driver-ready trucks into our customers’ operations,” added Anderson.
