Aurora Innovation

Aurora Innovation develops the Aurora Driver, a self-driving system for heavy freight trucks, and trades on Nasdaq as AUR. Chris Urmson, who spent two decades leading autonomous vehicle programmes at Carnegie Mellon and Google, co-founded the company in 2017 with Drew Bagnell and Sterling Anderson. Its stated mission is to improve road safety, make supply chains more efficient and reduce shipping costs.

What it does

The Aurora Driver is a package of sensors, an onboard computer and software that a truck maker fits to autonomy-enabled trucks with redundant systems. The second generation, Aurora Driver 2, uses hardware built for a million miles of life and 24-hour fleet use, and its proprietary FirstLight lidar sees 1,000 metres ahead, which Aurora puts at more than 34 seconds of planning time at highway speed. The company says the second generation is already hauling customer freight with nobody behind the wheel. In July 2026 it announced a second-generation truck built on the International LT Series, fitted by the supplier Roush. Rather than owning trucks, it sells access to the driver, and customers own their vehicles.

Who it serves

Aurora sells to trucking and logistics carriers. Customers quoted on its site include Hirschbach Motor Lines and Werner Enterprises, and the partners it lists include Volvo Trucks, PACCAR, AUMOVIO, NVIDIA, FedEx, Ryder, Schneider, McLane, Uber Freight and Toyota. In October 2026 Hirschbach signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding to take 500 trucks with the Aurora Driver from 2027. Aurora says its commercial network covers 10 driverless routes through the US Sun Belt.

Key facts

Founded: 2017 People: Chris Urmson, co-founder and chief executive; Drew Bagnell and Sterling Anderson, co-founders Listing: Nasdaq, ticker AUR Locations listed on its site: Pittsburgh, Dallas, Detroit, Louisville (Colorado) and Seattle Product: Aurora Driver 2, second-generation self-driving system for Class 8 trucks