PITTSBURGH — Autonomous big rig outfitter Aurora Innovation is holding an Analyst and Investor Day at its headquarters in Pittsburgh on Thursday, where executives will share the company’s progress toward driverless deployment and its path to gross profit, scale and self-funding.
For the first time, the company will publicly show the Aurora Driver — an SAE Level 4 autonomous driving system — navigating safety-critical scenarios without anyone on board, according to a news release.
“Building on years of development and testing, our work toward the safe and scalable deployment of driverless trucks is nearing a historic milestone”
The company’s Safety Case — Aurora’s evidence-based approach to demonstrating that its self-driving vehicles are acceptably safe to operate on public roads — is 93% complete for its launch lane between Dallas and Houston.
To show progress toward a closed Safety Case, an Aurora Driver-powered truck with a standard trailer will navigate advanced scenarios on a closed track including:
- Autonomous operations: Starting and stopping from a remote app
- Advanced capabilities: Avoiding dangerous debris, navigating a tire blowout, and responding to being pulled over by law enforcement
- Defensive driving: Handling aggressive cut-ins, unexpected pedestrians, and other road hazards to avoid collisions
- Final development of purpose-designed redundant trucks
Aurora has been closed-track testing the all-new autonomous Volvo VNL since late 2023.
“With safety at the forefront, the soon-to-be-released autonomous VNL is a purpose-designed, production-ready, autonomous truck with robust redundant systems,” the news release states. “Aurora and Volvo Autonomous Solutions are making significant progress towards commercialization. The company strongly believes the only way to safely and responsibly deploy and scale autonomous trucks is through close collaboration with OEM and manufacturing partners.”
Born in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, and raised in East Texas, John Worthen returned to his home state to attend college in 1998 and decided to make his life in The Natural State. Worthen is a 20-year veteran of the journalism industry and has covered just about every topic there is. He has a passion for writing and telling stories. He has worked as a beat reporter and bureau chief for a statewide newspaper and as managing editor of a regional newspaper in Arkansas. Additionally, Worthen has been a prolific freelance journalist for two decades, and has been published in several travel magazines and on travel websites.
