Why are these trucks ahead of human drivers?
The rule for human drivers is that they have to rest after driving a truck for 11 hours, but this is not the case with these trucks of Aurora. It takes approximately 15 hours to complete this journey and these trucks can run continuously without any break. This will make it much faster and cheaper to transport goods from one place to another. Driverless trucks outcompete humans because –
No rest break – It is mandatory for human drivers to rest after 11 hours of driving, but this rule does not apply to robotic trucks.
24/7 work – According to Chris Urmson, CEO of Aurora, if these autonomous trucks can work round the clock, then the capacity to deliver goods will increase manifold. Besides, this will also benefit the business.
Target to bring more than 200 trucks
This is the company’s fourth major software update since it first put driverless trucks on the road in April 2025. At present, 5 trucks of the company are carrying goods between Dallas, Houston and Fort Worth without any safety driver or guard. The company aims to put more than 200 such trucks on the road by the end of 2026.
New technology and future plans
Maps made from AI – Aurora has developed a new technology called Verifiable AI. In this, one has to manually drive the truck once on a route and cloud-based algorithms automatically prepare a digital map of that route. With this, the company is able to start its service on new routes very quickly.
Affordable Hardware – In the second half of 2026, Aurora will add a new truck called the International LT to its fleet. The new hardware system and sensors installed in it have been prepared at half the cost of the existing system.
Great record – Over the past year, Aurora trucks have traveled 2.5 lakh miles without drivers and a total of 4.5 lakh commercial miles. This technology of Aurora will not only reduce the cost of transport but will also deliver the goods quickly.
