Pittsburgh-based Aurora Innovation, Inc. (NASDAQ: AUR) and Omaha-based Werner Enterprises (NASDAQ: WERN), a transportation and logistics provider, today announced a collaboration and commercial pilot to test and deploy autonomous trucks on one of the most commercially active and critical stretches of highway in the country in Texas, according to a news release.
Starting this week, Aurora Driver-powered trucks are hauling loads between Fort Worth and El Paso on behalf of Werner. This lane represents the middle leg of one of the busiest commercial thoroughfares for Werner and the U.S. trucking industry: Atlanta to Los Angeles.
According to the release, introducing an autonomous route between Fort Worth and El Paso allows Werner to move freight seamlessly and reliably on a subset of one of its busiest lanes. The collaboration also broadens Aurora’s customer ecosystem to include multiple carrier types. The pilot is designed to advance the Aurora Driver and Aurora Horizon, Aurora’s autonomous truck product, to develop a robust service for carriers.
Operators accompany each truck in the pilot fleet on weekly hauls, ready to assist if necessary. Over the next several months, Aurora and Werner expect to increase the frequency of these loads and are exploring further autonomy for vehicles in this lane.
The Fort Worth to El Paso lane is over 600 miles and takes approximately nine hours to complete. According to the release, its long distance and monotony contribute to this lane’s reputation for being unappealing for truck drivers. By deploying the Aurora Driver on such hauls, Aurora and the companies it is working with are building a future in which autonomous trucks can handle less popular routes. In contrast, human drivers transport more convenient hauls conducive to desirable lifestyles.
“Werner has a long history of pioneering new technology within the industry,” Werner’s chairman, president and CEO, Derek Leathers, said in the release. “This collaboration and pilot with Aurora is another step forward in our commitment to sustainability and safety for our drivers, customers and the motoring public through innovation. We look forward to building a hybrid world where drivers continue to haul freight while autonomous trucks supplement rising demand.”
Launching this new route is a technical and operational milestone toward deploying the Aurora Driver at scale. To start this commercial pilot, Aurora brought two new terminal sites online to service this route and built the technological and operational infrastructure required to operate it. The technical, operational, and commercial muscle Aurora is building in the process will serve its customers well as they deploy Aurora-Driver-powered trucks at scale.
“We’re proud to partner with Werner to bring the game-changing safety, efficiency, and reliability benefits of self-driving technology to their business,” Sterling Anderson, Aurora’s Co-founder and Chief Product Officer, said in the release. “We look forward to maturing and streamlining these hybrid operations and ultimately delivering a product that delivers value to Werner and its customers at a large scale.”
