Aurora’s self-driving truck can now travel the 1,000-mile route between Fort Worth and Phoenix nonstop, exceeding speeds that a human driver can legally achieve.
This distance and travel time has positive economic implications for Aurora and other companies hoping to commercialize self-driving semi-trucks.
The company says it takes Aurora about 15 hours to transport a load on a 1,000-mile journey using a driverless truck. Human truck drivers take much longer to complete the same distance due to federal regulations that limit the amount of time they can be behind the wheel. For example, according to federal regulations, truck drivers must take a 30-minute break after eight hours and can drive semi-trucks for up to 11 hours at a time. Once a driver reaches this threshold, they will not be able to get behind the wheel for the next 10 hours.
“This is much more than just a technical achievement,” Aurora co-founder and CEO Chris Urmson said during an earnings call Wednesday afternoon. “This is the dawn of a superhuman future for the freight industry.”
We also offer attractive economics for customers such as Uber Freight, Werner, FedEx, and Schneider. The company says it could ultimately cut transit times by nearly half, a statistic that appeals to companies like Hirschbach, an early customer on the Fort Worth-to-Phoenix line.
In a letter to shareholders, Aurora said it is ready to expand across the U.S. Sunbelt. The company currently operates self-driving trucks (some with a human observer in the driver’s seat) on routes between Dallas and Houston, Fort Worth and El Paso, El Paso and Phoenix, Fort Worth and Phoenix, and Laredo and Dallas.
The expansion allowed Aurora to transition from a self-driving truck developer to a commercial operator profiting from driverless routes.
tech crunch event
boston, massachusetts
|
June 23, 2026
Aurora has been generating revenue since April 2025, when it first brought commercial driverless heavy-duty trucks to the road. Aurora reported revenue of $1 million in the fourth quarter and $3 million for the year, according to a report filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The company’s chief financial officer, David Maday, said total adjusted revenue for the year was $4 million, including money earned through a pilot program early last year.
This is a small number, especially compared to its cost. Aurora reported a net profit loss of $816 million in 2025, up 9% from the previous year, as it focuses on scaling its business. Still, it represents tangible progress from 2024, when no revenue was recognized.
Revenue is expected to continue as more trucks and driverless routes are added to the company’s network. The company currently has a fleet of 30 trucks, 10 of which are driverless. That number is expected to increase to more than 200 by the end of the year. Urmson said the company’s trucks had traveled 250,000 miles without a driver as of January 2026, with a perfect safety record.
In the second quarter, Aurora plans to deploy driverless International Motors trucks without human observers. Aurora’s driverless operations using Paccar trucks now have a human safety observer in the driver’s seat, as requested by the truck manufacturer.
Urmson offered a bullish outlook for Aurora’s future, supported by advances in self-driving software, an impending second-generation hardware kit that will reduce costs, and the expansion of driverless routes. The company’s expansion of driverless trucking routes is being driven by a new software release, the fourth since launching commercial service in April 2025.
Aurora said the first release validated initial driverless operations between Dallas and Houston, the second validated nighttime operations, and the third in El Paso. The company said this latest software release gives its self-driving systems the ability to navigate the diverse geography and climate of the southern United States.
“Just as robotaxis have become mainstream over the past two years, we expect 2026 to be the tipping point where the market recognizes that self-driving trucks are here and rapidly becoming established in our transportation landscape,” Urmson said on the company’s earnings call. “If you live in the Sunbelt in 2026, you won’t just read about Aurora drivers, you’ll see them every day.”
Aurora currently operates unmanned routes through Texas, New Mexico and Arizona, with future plans for unmanned routes in Nevada, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, Kentucky, Mississippi, Alabama, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Florida, the company said.
