USA – Last month start-up software company, Aurora Innovations Inc of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States, hosted an investor day at its headquarters to share progress regarding the upcoming commercial launch of its level 4 autonomous truck driving software (Aurora Driver). According to its official latest press release,  strategy to market, profitability and scaling were all discussed at the meeting. The company then publicly displayed the Aurora Driver in a Volvo VNL truck (without a driver), navigating different driving and safety scenarios, for the first time. Aurora has announced that the partnership with Volvo Autonomous Solutions is nearing commercialisation, yet no concrete dates were given.

Last year, Aurora released its beta 5.0 autonomous driving software. The software has been integrated into the company’s testing fleet in Texas for pilot customers including Uber Freight, FedEx, Werner and Schneider. The upgraded software continues to add safety capabilities such as responding to emergency vehicles (fire trucks and ambulances etc) and an improved ability to re-enter traffic and navigate lane changes. Starting with the first Beta version in 2021, the company has continued to build and integrate more complex features into the platform. Aurora Driver is to underpin Aurora’s subscription-based autonomous trucking service, known as Aurora Horizon.