PITTSBURGH — Aurora Innovation, Inc. and Schneider National, Inc. are creating a multiphase commercial pilot program to haul freight for Schneider’s customers with the Aurora Driver, Aurora’s autonomous technology.
According to a news release, the pilot “reflects a key step for Schneider toward understanding how to incorporate autonomous trucks into its fleet to improve efficiencies and address the growing demand to move goods.”
“Understanding more about an autonomous future is the logical next step to build a network that continues to deliver the best service for our customers,” Rob Reich, executive vice president and chief administrative officer at Schneider, said.
Schneider hauls freight on over 9.3 million miles a day, according to the company.
The Aurora Driver will begin weekly autonomous hauls this week between Dallas and Houston with Aurora vehicle operators on board.
Load frequency is expected to increase as Schneider expands its relationship with Aurora.
Working with Schneider will be instrumental as Aurora makes progress toward delivering Aurora Horizon, its subscription-based autonomous trucking product. The pilot will strengthen and prepare Aurora Horizon in three key areas ahead of its launch:
- Autonomy at scale – The Aurora Driver learns from every load it hauls autonomously. As the scale of these pilots increases, so does the Aurora Driver’s experience.
- Vehicle readiness – Weekly hauls allow Aurora to evaluate the durability of its next-generation trucks, based on PACCAR’s Peterbilt 579M, for commercial operation and deployment.
- Premium service – Aurora’s fourth commercial pilot enables one of the industry’s largest carriers to play a crucial role in testing and validating Aurora’s product and service.
“Schneider has a reputation for delivering consistent and reliable service, evidenced by the sheer number of Fortune 500 customers. Preparing Aurora Horizon for prime time with Schneider spring loads our ability to deploy our product at scale in the years to come,” Sterling Anderson, Aurora’s co-founder and chief product officer, said.
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