Autonomous trucking developer Aurora says it has tripled its driverless network to 10 routes and is planning to expand across the U.S. Sun Belt.
This, as it rolls out a new software release that will allow it to tackle routes beyond a driver’s hours of service limitations, including a 1,000-mile (1,600-km) lane between Phoenix and Fort Worth.
“Expanding across the Sun Belt and introducing customer endpoints enables us to provide our customers with the capacity they need to move goods at a scale that wasn’t possible before,” said Chris Urmson, co-founder and CEO of Aurora. “Being a carrier is a game of margins and if autonomy can work around the clock, it will be key to growing our customers’ businesses.”
The software update is Aurora’s fourth since it began deploying driverless trucks last April. It will improve the trucks’ abilities to handle diverse geography and climate in the Southern United States.
Its ability to exceed driver hours of service mean it can cut transit times by eliminating mandatory rest breaks. Hirshbach will be among the first fleets to take advantage of the longer routes.
Aurora is now moving freight on lanes between: Dallas and Houston; Fort Worth and El Paso; El Paso and Phoenix; Fort Worth and Phoenix; and Dallas and Laredo. The new software also improves its performance in rain, fog and heavy wind, Aurora says.
It plans to have more than 200 trucks deployed by the end of the year after completing 250,000 driverless miles by the end of January with no Aurora-attributed collisions.
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