Image: Aurora
Pittsburgh-based autonomous trucking company Aurora has unveiled a second generation of driverless trucks as it prepares to expand commercial freight operations across the US.
The second-generation vehicles are based on International’s LT truck and feature updated autonomous hardware that Aurora claims is designed for a one million-mile operating life.
“Our initial driverless fleet will be modest,” an Aurora spokesperson told Zag Daily. “As we ramp up production with Roush in the coming months, we expect our fleet to grow and operate 200 driverless trucks by the end of the year.”
Manufacturing partner Roush is targeting the capacity to produce up to 1,000 trucks annually, although Aurora said that figure is a production run rate rather than the number of vehicles it expects to deploy.
The new trucks replace Aurora’s first commercial fleet, which entered service last year when the company became the first to operate Class 8 trucks without a driver on public roads in the US. Aurora reports those vehicles have now completed nearly 440,000 driverless miles.
Aurora said the fleet will be used for customers that have approved driverless operations including Hirschbach, Uber Freight, McLane and Detmar. It added that demand from those customers was the main reason for introducing the new platform.
The company currently owns and operates its trucks through a transportation-as-a-service model with customers buying freight capacity. It plans to begin offering its Driver-as-a-Service model in 2027, allowing fleets to purchase and operate Aurora-equipped trucks themselves.
The second-generation vehicle announcement comes after Aurora signed a memorandum of understanding with freight carrier Hirschbach earlier this year, covering a potential purchase of up to 500 autonomous trucks, although the agreement is non-binding.
