Aurora Innovation said it has tripled its driverless trucking network to 10 routes as it prepares to expand autonomous freight operations across the southern United States.
The Pittsburgh-based company said its latest software release enables its Aurora Driver autonomous control system to operate on longer lanes, serve direct customer endpoints, and navigate a wider range of adverse weather conditions.
The company touted these as key steps as the company moves toward scaling commercial operations.
With the addition of Phoenix to its network, Aurora now operates driverless freight lanes between Dallas and Houston, Fort Worth and El Paso, El Paso and Phoenix, Fort Worth and Phoenix, and Dallas and Laredo.
“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.”
1,000-Mile Driverless Lane Beyond HOS Limits
Aurora also said it has validated driverless operations on the approximately 1,000-mile lane between Fort Worth, Texas, and Phoenix. This corridor exceeds current federal hours-of-service limitations for a single driver.
Without required rest breaks, the company said the Aurora Driver can significantly reduce transit times while increasing equipment utilization.
Why Aurora Put Human Drivers Back Behind the Wheel
Hirschbach is among the early customers using the Fort Worth — Phoenix lane, supporting freight that moves coast to coast.
Aurora said it has accumulated more than 250,000 driverless miles as of January 2026 with zero Aurora Driver-attributed collisions.
In addition to highway expansion, Aurora is working to extend autonomous operations directly to customer facilities.
Using what it calls “Verifiable AI,” the company said it can automate much of the route-mapping process after a single manual drive, allowing cloud-based algorithms to generate semantic map components with limited human input. The goal is to accelerate deployment to new routes and customer endpoints.
Aurora has begun supervised autonomous deliveries for several customers, including:
- Hirschbach Motor Lines between Dallas and Laredo for Driscoll’s
- Detmar Logistics between Midland and Capital Sand’s mining site in Monahans, Texas
- A Phoenix-based facility for one of the largest carriers in the U.S.
The latest software release also expands the Aurora Driver’s ability to operate in inclement weather, including rain, fog, and heavy winds.
Aurora said weather constraints limited its driverless operations in Texas roughly 40% of the time last year.
The new validation is intended to increase asset uptime and improve utilization across the varied climate conditions found throughout the Sun Belt.
Scaling Toward 200+ Driverless Trucks
Aurora plans to launch its next-generation hardware kit on the International LT Series platform without a ride observer in the second quarter of 2026.
