A driverless semi truck has officially hit the road in Texas.
Aurora Innovation, Inc. launched its commercial self-driving truck on Thursday. It will make regular customer deliveries between Dallas and Houston.
The Aurora Driver is an SAE L4 self-driving system that is first being deployed in long-haul trucking. It is equipped with a powerful computer and sensors that can see beyond the length of four football fields.
The truck is able to predict red light runners, avoiding collisions and detecting people.
Before officially hitting the road for deliveries, the Aurora Driver completed over 1,200 miles without a driver over a four-year period.
According to a news release from Aurora, this milestone makes it the first company to operate a commercial self-driving service with heavy-duty trucks on public roads.
“We founded Aurora to deliver the benefits of self-driving technology safely, quickly, and broadly. Now, we are the first company to successfully and safely operate a commercial driverless trucking service on public roads,” said Chris Urmson, CEO and co-founder of Aurora.
Before operations began, Aurora closed its safety case, which is how the company assembled evidence to show its product is acceptably safe for public roads.
The company also released a Driverless Safety Report which includes details about the Aurora Driver’s operating domain for initial operations along with Aurora’s approach to cybersecurity, remote assistance, and more safety-critical topics.
It is unknown if the semi will travel through San Antonio.