Aurora publicly showcased driverless trucks for the first time today as part of its Analyst and Investor Day. Additionally, they provided details on their company’s scaling goals beyond their expected commercial launch at the end of this year.
“Building on years of development and testing, our work toward the safe and scalable deployment of driverless trucks is nearing a historic milestone,” Chris Urmson, Aurora CEO, said. “Today will show why we believe we will have the essential components not only for commercial launch but also deployment at scale to support a strong and self-sustaining business.”
At their Pittsburgh test track, Aurora (NASDAQ: AUR) demonstrated what they referred to as “safety-critical maneuvers.” These included responding to a flat tire, being pulled over, avoiding debris, and handling aggressive cut-ins.
These maneuvers were used to show progress on the company’s safety case, which they call “an evidence-based approach to demonstrating that its self-driving vehicles are acceptably safe to operate on public roads.” The safety case framework was compiled from information from government organizations, safety-critical industries, academic research and the company itself.
Currently, the safety case is 93 percent complete. The company is utilizing a virtual testing suite to complete the process.
“When validating a self-driving system, one of the challenges is the most dangerous scenarios on the road are also the rarest,” slides presented to investors read. “Therefore, road-based testing is not enough. Aurora’s Virtual Testing Suite is designed to amplify exposure to rare events.”
The company expects to complete its safety case by the end of the year, when it expects to commercially launch completely driverless vehicles on a route between Dallas and Houston. Aurora currently operates vehicles along this route with drivers on board as a failsafe.
Beyond the commercial launch, the company informed investors that they are on track to gross profit by 2026 and to not require outside investment by 2027. These expectations are not guarantees and “are based on management’s current assumptions.”
These goals are based on plans for expanding their route beyond Dallas and Houston across the Sun Belt, as well as a reduction in material costs by 2027. Currently, Aurora operates their fleet directly, but they expect to have customer ownership of vehicles by 2026 with vehicles in their fleet being predominantly owned by customers by 2027.
