California-based Aurora, the company with plans to deploy driverless big rigs on Texas roads in 2024, will open a commercial-ready route between Dallas and Houston.
The company announced Wednesday that its Houston terminal is ready to receive driverless trucks, just like its Dallas terminal, which launched in April 2023. The Houston terminal is located near the company’s pilot customers. Aurora’s fleet is supported by an operational command center, which includes remote workers to guide the truck.
Sterling Anderson, co-founder and chief product officer at Aurora said opening a driverless trucking lane is an “industry first,” unlocking its ability to launch driverless trucks.
“With this corridor’s launch, we’ve defined, refined, and validated the framework for the expansion of our network with the largest partner ecosystem in the autonomous trucking industry,” Anderson said in a release.
It’s not just Aurora using the Lone Star State’s highways. Texas has become a prime testing ground for autonomous vehicles. In 2024, Gatik plans to deploy “freight only” trucks without drivers in Texas. The company expects to discuss its plans in the future.
Kodiak Robotics also operates autonomous trucks with safety drivers along the nearly 300-mile stretch of Interstate 45 that connects Dallas and Houston.
But not every autonomous vehicle firm has gotten this far. Some have fallen through the cracks.
Cruise, the autonomous vehicle company that is owned by General Motors, suspended driverless operations across the country last month days after regulators in California found that the autonomous technology “posed a danger to public safety,” according to The Associated Press.
Waymo, Google’s autonomous driving sister company, pulled back from its driverless truck tests in Texas and instead said it will “focus [its] efforts and investment on ride-hailing.” Last year, Waymo built a 9-acre trucking hub in Lancaster.
TuSimple had some operations set up in North Texas. In January, the company announced 76 layoffs in the area, citing a need to restructure the firm, which ultimately wiped out its Texas operations. The company is still testing near its facility in Tucson, Ariz., but intends to expand into Texas at some point in the future.
