A commercial-ready terminal for self-driving trucks has opened its doors in Dallas ahead of a planned deployment of an autonomous trucking product from a Pittsburgh-based technology company.
Aurora Innovation Inc., headquartered in the Strip District, announced that its new South Dallas Terminal will serve as a blueprint for all future terminals where trucks powered by the company's AV technology can come for loading, refueling and inspection-based needs. Aurora's (NASDAQ: AUR) Houston terminal equivalent will reach this stage in the third quarter of 2023, the company said.
For now, these trucks will still be driven by human operators until the company ships its autonomous trucking subscription platform called Aurora Horizon by the end of 2024.
Aurora said its commercial-ready terminal in Dallas will set the standard for these types of commercial operations to come.
"Self-driving technology will fundamentally transform how we move goods," Kendra Phillips, vice president of service delivery at Aurora, said in a prepared statement. "It's incredibly exciting to lead the way for how to deliver commercial driverless operations to our customers and the broader industry."
Aurora actively hauls 50 customer loads per week with its shipping partners across two routes in Texas as part of a pilot program of its autonomous trucking platform. These routes will be among the first to go fully autonomous when Aurora pulls its drivers from its cabs upon the launch of Aurora Horizon.
