Aurora, a Silicon Valley-based autonomous vehicle software and hardware developer, is expanding testing of autonomous pickup trucks and delivery trucks in Texas as the existing Covid-19 pandemic pushes corporations that first and foremost prioritized theft facilities to focus instead on logistics.
In the coming weeks, the company will review a small fleet of cars in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, operated through its Aurora Driver software and supplied with its new “FirstLight” lidar laser sensor. You’ll check the advertising routes at the busy delivery center, first some of your Chrysler Pacifica minivans changed as delivery cars, followed by the semi-Class 8 trucks. Aurora did not say how many cars will be used or identified the corporations it will run with to verify.
“While the Driver will ultimately move both people and goods, our first commercial product will be in trucking – where the market is largest today, the unit economics are best and the level of service requirements is most accommodating,” the company said. More than 10% of all long-haul truckers in the U.S. drive in Texas, according to Aurora. “Texas’ role as a crucial state in the movement of goods makes it a natural place for Aurora’s expanded testing. With more public road miles than any other state, Texas understands that self-driving technology will have a critical safety impact for those who drive on its roads.”
Billions of dollars have flowed into dozens of startups and subsidiaries of tech giants in the past four years to perfect the software, sensors and computing power needed for safe, reliable self-driving vehicles. Alphabet’s Waymo is the farthest along toward commercializing robotaxis, but technical hurdles and health concerns triggered by the coronavirus have complicated the timetable for that business. That’s led Waymo to place new emphasis on its Via automated logistics business and influenced a similar move by Aurora. The company is also a member of Forbes’ AI 50 list, along with startups Nuro, TuSimple and Pony.ai which are also developing autonomous delivery and trucking services.
The company’s Texas plans come a week after TuSimple and Navistar announced a partnership to build self-driving semis that will be sold commercially by 2024.
From Los Angeles, the U.S. capital of cars and congestion, I try to make sense of technology-driven changes reshaping transportation, cities and how we get around. I’ve
From Los Angeles, the U.S. capital of cars and congestion, I try to make sense of technology-driven changes reshaping transportation, cities and how we get around. I’ve tracked global automakers, advanced vehicle tech and environmental policy for more than two decades, including 15 years at Bloomberg, and squeezed in stints in the financial and corporate worlds. What’s your story?