Self-driving vehicle technology startup Aurora Innovation aims to commercially deploy self-driving trucks in April 2025, about a quarter behind schedule. The company originally planned to release the vehicle by the end of 2024, but announced that it had postponed the launch to continue verifying autonomous driving technology.
“While this is a little later than we had intended, this timing is… remains within the margin of error that we have predicted and communicated throughout 2024.” “The financial impact of this schedule change is minimal as we intend to deploy Aurora Driver with a crawl, walk, run approach.”
Although Aurora is being brought to market as a carrier, its ultimate goal is to become a driver-as-a-service, where carriers purchase trucks equipped with Aurora Driver technology and use those trucks to serve shippers. is to pursue a model of
One of the ways Aurora measures the performance and commercial readiness of Aurora Drivers is through the use of on-site support. The company says this will be the most expensive support it offers. As of the end of the third quarter, Aurora Driver was delivering commercial loads without remote human support 80% of the time. This is a 75% increase from Q2. The goal is to reach 90% by the time it goes on the market this spring.
The company plans to deploy up to 10 driverless trucks at commercial launch, with the goal of increasing the fleet to dozens by the end of 2025.
Aurora has been testing commercial loads with pilot customers including FedEx, Werner, Schneider, Hirschbach, Uber Freight, and others. The company schedules about 160 commercial shipments a week, which Aurora said is more than double last year. As of October 27, 2024, Aurora trucks have autonomously delivered more than 8,200 packages and driven more than 2.2 million commercial miles, all with a human behind the wheel.
Aurora, a pre-revenue company that builds pioneering technologies, recorded operating expenses of $196 million in the third quarter, including $35 million in stock compensation. This is less than the $212 million spent in the same period last year, and Aurora says it demonstrates the company’s commitment to being frugal on its path to commercialization.
The startup ended the quarter with $1.4 billion in cash and investments after raising about $500 million in August. This should give Aurora a runway for 2026 and fund the early stages of scaling up and getting to a place of sustainability.
