Aurora Innovation is the latest autonomous trucking developer to announce longer routes than hub-to-hub operations in Texas. It helps make the real-world case for long-promised over-the-road driverless trucking that could dramatically reduce the cost of freight shipping.
Aurora said this week it will begin driver-supervised routes from Fort Worth and El Paso, Texas, to Phoenix next year. It plans to go driverless by the end of 2025.
“This is where you see the real benefits of AV start to be unlocked,” Zac Andreoni, Aurora vice president of business development, told me. “You may even see freight move from different modalities. We’re excited to see and test all that stuff.”
Conservatively, driver compensation including benefits accounts for 40% of the operating cost of a truck. While the per-mile fee to run autonomously is significant, it is far less than the cost of a human versus robot driver.
“You get to pull …