First Driverless Truck on the Road in Texas

Autonomous Driving First Driverless Truck on the Road in Texas

2025-05-07 From Thomas Günnel | Translated by AI 3 min Reading Time

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Aurora has officially launched its service with driverless trucks in Texas. Autonomous trucks will now operate regularly over a distance of approximately 400 kilometers.

Aurora has put the first self-driving truck on the road. (Image: Aurora) — Aurora has put the first self-driving truck on the road.
(Image: Aurora)

Aurora Innovation has officially put the first self-driving truck on the road in Texas. The truck will now regularly transport cargo over a distance of approximately 385 kilometers between Dallas and Houston. So far, the underlying system, "Aurora Driver," has traveled over 1,900 kilometers without a driver; however, a safety driver was present in the truck during testing. The company plans to expand its service to El Paso, Texas, and Phoenix, Arizona, by the end of 2025. According to the company, Aurora is the first to operate a commercial service for self-driving trucks on public roads.

The Technology Behind Aurora Driver

The Aurora Driver is a Level 4 self-driving system according to SAE standards. It is initially intended for use in long-haul transportation. According to the company, the system can see approximately 450 meters ahead, making it suitable for high-speed operations. Over more than four years of supervised pilot driving, the system has delivered over 10,000 customer loads over three million miles of autonomous driving. The trucks are equipped with numerous redundant systems, including brakes, steering, propulsion, sensors, control systems, computers, cooling, and communication.During test drives, the system reportedly anticipated traffic light violations, avoided collisions, and detected pedestrians in the dark from several hundred meters away. The verifiable AI in the system also ensures that emergency vehicles are given right of way.

Continental and Aurora Plan Mass Production of the System

In January of this year, Aurora, Continental, and Nvidia announced their plans for mass production of the "Aurora Driver." The launch is scheduled for 2027. Nvidia operates the main computer of the Aurora system with a dual "Drive Thor SoC" configuration, on which the operating system runs. Continental is developing the hardware for the system, designed for mass production. Additionally, Continental is developing an independent secondary system that will take over operations in the event of a failure of the primary computer. The supplier is also integrating software and hardware and supplying the completed kit to the truck manufacturers involved in the project, including Volvo Trucks and Paccar.

Trillion-Dollar Truck Market

Truck transportation is a trillion-dollar industry in the U.S. However, the workforce is aging, turnover rates are high, operating costs are rising, and trucks are underutilized. The first customers to use the system are Uber Freight, a technology company for smart logistics, and Hirschbach Motor Lines, a veteran transport company that handles time- and temperature-sensitive cargo. Both companies have extensive experience as transport pilots for Aurora.

Moving Words from the Aurora CEO

Aurora CEO and co-founder Chris Urmson sat behind the driver's seat during the first driverless ride at the end of April and expressed his amazement: “It’s a profoundly surreal moment. I’m driving at 105 km/h (about 65 mph) on the highway, not at the wheel but in the back seat, watching the landscape while a truckload of pastries is being driven by the technology I helped develop,” he describes in his blog. “It’s novel. Technically exceptional. And yet, everything is quite boring. The ride is smooth, courteous, and predictable. And that's exactly how it should be. While I’m in the truck, I’m just a passenger. I pass the time chatting with our team, writing this blog, and making YouTube videos. We transported a trailer south to Houston and are now bringing pastries back to Dallas. And it's just working.”

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