Aurora and Continental Hit Critical Milestone in Driverless Trucking

Aurora Innovation and Continental have completed a crucial phase in their quest to launch driverless semi trucks by 2027. Here's a quick rundown:

• Blueprint and Design (2023): Completed design and system architecture of the self-driving truck hardware kit, the Aurora Driver.
• Build and Test (2024-2025): Prototypes development and testing at Continental’s Texas facility.
• Finalization and Integration (2026-2027): Validation of Aurora Driver hardware and fallback system, with mass production set to begin.

• Continental CEO Nikolai Setzer: “Continental demonstrates its leading technology expertise by industrializing the first commercially scalable autonomous trucking systems. Together with Aurora, we take a crucial step towards autonomous mobility.”
• Aurora CEO Chris Urmson: “Delivering autonomous vehicles at scale has the potential to dramatically transform modern transportation, bringing new accessibility, safety and efficiency to the movement of goods and people.”

This milestone represents a major leap in autonomous vehicle technology, promising to transform long-haul trucking. Aurora plans to initially launch up to 20 driverless Class 8 trucks by the end of 2024, a precursor to the large-scale deployment of thousands of trucks equipped with the Aurora Driver post-2027.

Sources: CDL Life | TechCrunch