Self-driving trucking company Aurora started its commercial service in Texas this week, marking the beginning of what could be a revolution in cargo transportation.
Aurora said Thursday it would start with two customers: Uber Freight and Hirschbach Motor Lines. The company’s autonomous trucks will deliver time-sensitive cargo between Dallas and Houston.
Aurora had conducted a series of tests with its customers, featuring human drivers who monitored the self-driving technology. The new commercial partnership will not feature human monitors.
The company’s self-driving technology has been under development for years, with the software completing more than 10,000 deliveries. Since then, the technology has racked up over 1,200 miles on U.S. roads without a driver behind the wheel.
“We founded Aurora to deliver the benefits of self-driving technology safely, quickly and broadly,” Aurora CEO Chris Urmson said in a statement. “Now, we are the first company to successfully and safely operate a commercial driverless trucking service on public roads.”
Aurora said it would closely monitor the success of its partnerships with Hirschbach and Uber and hopes to put more autonomous vehicles on the road by the end of the year.
Autonomous driving technology has captured the imagination of tech companies and consumers in the U.S. over the past few years as the technology becomes available to more people. Google’s self-driving taxi subsidiary Waymo has already exposed thousands to the technology. The company currently operates a robotaxi service in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Phoenix, Arizona, and Austin, Texas, with plans to expand to the District of Columbia next year.
However, the technology has been controversial, with regulators, drivers and labor unions speaking out against possible dangers. Tesla’s semi-autonomous driving systems have come under fire from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration after a series of deadly crashes led the regulator to question the reliability of the automaker’s software.
Additionally, unions have objected to the possibility of fleets of autonomous trucks displacing already struggling workers. In January, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration rejected a petition from Aurora and Waymo that sought to replace warning devices used in trucks with cab-mounted beacons, which the administration argued would hinder safety.
“The FMCSA ruling shows yet again the importance of human operators – whether they are operating a bus, train or large truck,” Transport Workers Union International President John Samuelsen said. “The TWU will continue to fight Big Tech whenever they argue that safety rules for everyone else shouldn’t apply to them.”
