Autonomous Vehicle Technology Company Aurora Innovation plans to expand the success of its first unmanned commercial launch and add night driving to its operations.
Aurora said Thursday that it will begin sending autonomous trucks later in 2025 during nighttime and during bad weather such as rain and heavy winds. The company plans to provide updates in its first quarter shareholder letter and expand its driverless trucking route across Dallas to Houston, El Paso and Phoenix.
“Because we have a high return on all the truck assets we have, we try to promote efficiency to increase efficiency on as many trucks as possible,” Aurora CFO Dave Maday said Thursday during the company’s first quarter revenue call. “You should be able to double your drive time as soon as you unlock the night. That’s the next important milestone.”
Aurora already operates cargo on autonomous trucks under these conditions, but human safety operators are behind the wheels. The company said it completed more than 4,000 miles on a single self-driving truck if there is no driver driving for its launch customers Hirschbach Motor Lines and Uber Freight.
In the week since the Aurora commercial launch, the company has already expanded to two unmanned trucks every day, saying it plans to operate “dozens of trucks” by the end of 2025.
Milestones and future plans are alongside another major change in the company: the resignation of co-founder and chief product officer Sterling Anderson.
In a first quarter shareholder’s letter on Thursday, Aurora shared new details about its plans to expand autonomous freight service, indicating it will provide a more specific timeline for important milestones as it expands.
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Aurora achieved pilot revenue of $871,000 from pre-driven commercial freight delivery runs, compared to the same time last year.
“With commercial launches, we will begin to recognize revenue,” he said Thursday in Aurora’s first quarter revenue call. “This includes driverless revenue and ongoing pilot revenue. With a deliberate approach to launch, we expect revenue to be modest in 2025.
The company reported operating expenses of $211 million, including $153 million in R&D. The first quarter ended with nearly $1.2 billion in cash and a short-term investment, using $142 million in operating cash and $8 million in CAPEX. Aurora expects to spend between $175 million and $185 million per quarter for the remainder of the year.
In the short term, Aurora plans to own, operate, maintain and guarantee its own trucks made available on the Uber freight network for its customers. The company is working with partners Paccar and Volvo Trucks to build autonomous trucks on a large scale. From before 2027, Aurora can move to driver models as drivers on a per-made basis, achieving “high gross profits” as customers expect to buy those trucks directly from the manufacturer.
This article was updated with more information on Aurora’s recorded revenues and the company’s next milestone.