Aurora Innovation is expanding its driverless freight traffic: from the end of 2025, autonomous trucks should also drive at night and in bad weather. The company is also planning new routes and a change to the “Driver as-a-Service” model.
The US company Aurora Innovation plans to expand its driverless truck services and, from the second half of 2025, night trips as well as missions in difficult weather conditions such as Rain or offer strong wind. So far, the autonomous trucks have already been driving on board with a security driver. Now Aurora wants to reach the next milestone and enable driving without drivers around the clock.
The current driverless Freight traffic runs on the route between Dallas and Houston. In the future, the network will be expanded to El Paso and Phoenix. CFO Dave Maday explained that the travel times could be doubled as soon as night trips are released – an important step towards increasing efficiency.
Since the commercial start, Aurora has already operated two autonomous trucks every day and expects to have “dozens of trucks” in use by the end of 2025. In the first quarter, $ 871,000 sales were achieved for pilot operation-an increase of 22 % to the previous quarter and 54 % compared to the previous year.
Despite a loss of $ 211 million in the first quarter, with high F&I expenses, the company still has $ 1.2 billion in liquids. In the medium term, Aurora plans to operate its own vehicles and to offer the Uber Freight Network. From 2027, customers should be able to buy autonomous trucks directly from partners such as Volvo and Paccar. Aurora would then pursue a “Driver as-a-Service” model.