Trucking news and briefs for Friday, May 2, 2025:
Aurora begins commercial driverless trucking in Texas
The Aurora Innovation company says it's launched its commercial self-driving trucking service in Texas. Following a run of publicly making what it called its "safety case" for taking the driver out of the truck, the company began regular driverless customer deliveries between Dallas and Houston this week. To date, its "Aurora Driver" technology has completed more 1,200 miles without a human driver.
Those miles have been run in part for customers and launch partners Uber Freight and Hirschbach Motor Lines. Both companies have had long-standing supervised commercial pilot programs with Aurora.
[Related: More autonomous trucks in Uber Freight's network]
Aurora plans to expand its driverless service to El Paso, Texas and Phoenix, Arizona by the end of 2025.
“We founded Aurora to deliver the benefits of self-driving technology safely, quickly and broadly. Now, we are the first company to successfully and safely operate a commercial driverless trucking service on public roads,” said Chris Urmson, CEO and co-founder of Aurora. “Riding in the back seat for our inaugural trip was an honor of a lifetime – the Aurora Driver performed perfectly and it’s a moment I’ll never forget.”
Aurora’s flagship product, the Aurora Driver, is an SAE L4 self-driving system that is first being deployed in long-haul trucking.
“Aurora’s transparent, safety-focused approach to delivering autonomous technology has always given me confidence they’re doing this the right way,” said Richard Stocking, CEO of Hirschbach Motor Lines. “Transforming an old-school industry like trucking is never easy, but we can’t ignore the safety and efficiency benefits this technology can deliver. Autonomous trucks aren’t just going to help grow our business -- they’re also going to give our drivers better lives by handling the lengthier and less desirable routes.”
An Uber Freight representative, queried about competition for loads hauled by Aurora's driverless trucks on its platform, noted the company's shippers that "participate in this program opt in for the benefits of AV trucks in their network, so this operates in a dedicated fleet model within our network."
[Related: 'What happens to all the truckers who simply want to live life out on the road?']
The Aurora Driver is equipped with a powerful computer, the company said, and sensors that can see beyond the length of four football fields. In four years' worth of supervised pilot hauls, the tech has delivered 10,000-plus loads across three million autonomous miles, the company said. Aurora’s launch trucks are equipped with the Aurora Driver hardware kit and numerous redundant systems including braking, steering, power, sensing, controls, computing, cooling, and communication, enabling them to safely operate without a human driver. The truck platform was validated and approved by Aurora for driverless operations on public roads.
Electric Volvo trucks surpass 15 million miles in customer operations, as company preps a VNL electric
Volvo Trucks North America announced this week that its VNR Electric regional-haul truck has accomplished 15 million miles in customer operations.
The company said more than 700 Volvo VNR Electric trucks are operating across the United States and Canada, deployed by fleets of all sizes – from single-truck owner-operators to fleets with more than 100 battery-electric trucks.
“We know that we live in a challenging time when it comes to deploying zero-tailpipe emission vehicles," said VTNA President Peter Voorhoeve. "There are long delays in getting charging infrastructure, regulatory uncertainty, including the future of grants and incentives to adopting battery-electric trucks, but we have continued to see customers defy the odds and add zero emissions vehicles to their fleet.”
[Related: Volvo plans new long-range electric for 2025]
Volvo noted that it’s preparing for the next phase of its electromobility journey with the upcoming Volvo VNL Electric. Built on the platform of the all-new Volvo VNL that was launched last year, this truck will feature an extended range enabled by an electronic rear axle (e-axle). This e-axle integrates the electric motors and transmission directly into the rear axle, freeing up space for additional batteries and extending the truck’s range. The official launch of the Volvo VNL Electric will be announced at a later date.
Volvo Trucks is also continuing to expand its dealer support network for battery-electric trucks, with 74 dealer locations across 29 states and four Canadian provinces. Each of these dealerships has dedicated assets to completing the rigorous safety and technical training to become a Volvo Trucks Certified Electric Vehicle (EV) Dealership, ensuring customers receive comprehensive sales and service support when they deploy zero-tailpipe emission Volvo VNR Electric trucks.
These dealerships work closely with customers throughout their electrification journey and continue to provide post-deployment support, including the Gold Service Contract – a comprehensive service and preventative maintenance solution for the Volvo VNR Electric that includes battery coverage and state of health monitoring.
[Related: Known unknown: How the used market will develop for Class 8 and other electric trucks]
