Hirschbach signs non-binding deal for 500 Aurora driverless trucks

Hirschbach signs non-binding deal for 500 Aurora driverless trucks

30 April 2026: Hirschbach Motor Lines, a refrigerated truckload carrier, plans to own 500 trucks driven by the Aurora Driver, with delivery starting in 2027. The plan sits in a memorandum of understanding that Aurora itself describes as non-binding, and the final commercial terms and timing are to be set in binding agreements that Aurora expects to close later this year.

Not yet independently verified. The 500-truck plan rests on a non-binding memorandum reported by Aurora alone; binding terms were expected later in 2026 and none had been confirmed when this was read. We will update this when it can be confirmed, and remove this note.

What the memorandum covers

Aurora, which trades on Nasdaq as AUR, says a final deal would give the carrier a way to scale its national network and give Aurora a multi-year revenue stream "valued in the hundreds of millions of dollars". Hirschbach would subscribe to the Aurora Driver under Aurora's driver-as-a-service model. In that arrangement the customer controls and owns the trucks, which Aurora says lets the carrier lower its total cost of ownership while Aurora keeps a capital-efficient business.

The trucks would run on high-volume routes between customer facilities in the Sun Belt and beyond. Aurora's own forward-looking statement is plain about the caveat: whether Hirschbach's intention becomes binding orders depends on definitive documents, which may not arrive on the expected timeline or at all.

A relationship already running on the road

Hirschbach has been hauling freight with Aurora since the early days, and the figures in the release show how much. The Aurora Driver has covered more than 800,000 miles and delivered over 2,000 loads for the carrier. Hirschbach is a key customer on the 1,000-mile route between Fort Worth and Phoenix, which links its coast-to-coast business, and Aurora recently moved to driverless deliveries into Laredo, Texas for one of the carrier's customers.

The carrier's own long-haul drivers helped judge the technology before driverless operation began on Aurora's first lane, Dallas to Houston. Hirschbach says its million-mile drivers were instrumental in that evaluation.

A hybrid network of drivers and trucks

Hirschbach's plan keeps people in the fleet. Autonomous trucks would take the long-haul work, leaving traditional drivers to shorter runs that bring them home daily. "The Aurora Driver will handle the lengthier, less desirable routes, providing our drivers with greater flexibility," said Richard Stocking, chief executive of Hirschbach.

Chris Urmson, Aurora's co-founder and chief executive, said that early adopters who see the benefits for their business and drivers "scale quickly", and that Aurora's momentum toward meaningful commercial revenue is "hitting a new gear".

The carrier and what is still open

Hirschbach was founded in 1935 and, with its acquisition of John Christner Trucking, runs more than 3,000 trucks and over 5,500 trailers across all 48 states. Five hundred autonomous trucks would therefore be a sizeable share of a fleet of that size, though the release does not say how quickly the carrier would take them or how many would replace existing units.

What remains unsettled is the price, the delivery schedule and the exact commitment. Until the binding agreements are signed, the 500-truck figure is an intention rather than an order.

Company profile on TrustList: Aurora Innovation

Related on TrustList:

• Aurora puts second-generation driverless trucks on the road
• Oxa and Dubai Future Foundation form autonomous logistics venture
• Mobileye plans its own robotaxi service starting in 2027

Sources

• Aurora Innovation: Leading Carrier Selects Aurora to Scale Autonomous Fleet to 500 Trucks, 30 April 2026