Aurora Innovation secures two carrier partners for autonomous truck pilots

Dive Brief

• Aurora Innovation announced two customer agreements this week to begin driverless hauls with Arizona-based carrier Value Truck and Charger Logistics of Brampton, Ontario, Canada.
• The tractors used in both arrangements will feature Aurora's newly released second-generation self-driving truck. Value Truck will deploy Aurora's technology to improve freight efficiency in the Southwest, while Charger Logistics will use driverless trucks to add capacity on a route between Dallas and Laredo.
• Andy Khera, president and CEO of Charger Logistics, stated in a July 28 release that autonomous trucking represents a transformational opportunity for the freight industry, and expects the move to "improve asset utilization and strengthen service reliability" on one of the carrier's busiest U.S. freight corridors.

Dive Insight

The customer agreements with Value Truck and Charger Logistics come ahead of Aurora's Q2 earnings announcement, scheduled for Wednesday, and follow last week's launch of its latest generation of self-driving trucks. The company stated that its second-generation autonomous trucks will be deployed across its commercial network, which includes 10 driverless routes across the U.S. Sun Belt to serve additional customers.

Aurora will own and operate the trucks contracted by Value Truck and Charger Logistics through a technology-as-a-service agreement, an Aurora spokesperson confirmed in emails to Trucking Dive. For both customers, the routes will initially involve supervised trips beginning in Q3, which Aurora expects to transition to daily driverless trips on its second-generation trucks in Q4.

Joe Skoog, CEO of Value Truck, stated that future driverless routes will initially include Phoenix to Fort Worth and Laredo to Dallas. The number of trucks to be deployed for these routes was not disclosed in the July 27 release. "The Aurora Driver will add flexible capacity on key long-haul corridors while allowing our drivers to focus where their experience matters most," Skoog said.

According to the release, Aurora's initial two-route arrangement with Value Truck frees up the carrier's drivers to focus on local freight and adds the potential for 24/7 capacity on key long-haul and high-volume routes.

Khera noted that autonomous trucks will enhance capacity for Charger Logistics, particularly for customers moving temperature-controlled, pharmaceutical, and other mission-critical freight on its Dallas-to-Laredo lane—one of its busiest in the U.S. Sun Belt.

Aurora did not disclose how many trucks would be used in its contract with Charger Logistics. A company spokesperson stated via email that the firm has not shared truck figures for any of its customer contracts.

These agreements with Value Truck and Charger Logistics represent additional steps in Aurora's deployment of its technology through carrier partners. In April, the company announced an expansion of its partnership with Hirschbach Motor Lines, under which the reefer carrier will own 500 driverless trucks operated by Aurora's technology. That announcement was followed by new driverless route announcements in May with Volvo Autonomous Solutions.

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