San Francisco, CA – A California self-driving tech startup is ramping up testing in Texas and claims it will soon be making 1,500-mile runs in less than a day.

Aurora has been testing its driverless semi-trucks and fleet of Chrysler Pacifica mini-vans in the Dallas-Forth Worth area since July of 2020.

Now the company, which calls its self-driving technology the “Aurora Driver,” says it is extending its testing area throughout the Lonestar State and will soon be operating a 1,500-mile route from Dallas to Los Angeles.

“Today, it takes almost three days for a truck to deliver goods from Dallas to Los Angeles,” Aurora said in a recent blog post. “When it’s deployed on this route, we expect the Aurora Driver to make the 1,500-mile trip in less than 24 hours.”

Currently, the Aurora Driver operates autonomously with a safety driver.

The company navigates “middle mile routes” between transfer hubs or terminals, but Aurora expects to ultimately drive the complete routes with no need for an intermediate consolidation point especially for shippers and carriers with existing hubs and large volumes of freight.

Further, Aurora said it will soon open its second office in Dallas where it currently operates its fleet of self-driving trucks around the clock.

Earlier this year, PACCAR announced it was partnering with Aurora to develop what it describes as “truly driverless-capable trucks.”

The first two models slated for delivery will be the Peterbilt 579 and the Kenworth T680.

Aurora is backed by some of corporate America’s biggest players.

Most notably, Amazon led a funding round with an undisclosed investment in February of 2019.

Aurora raked in over a half billion dollars in that round, according to reports.

RECENTLY RELATED

These Mega Carriers Are Among The First to Pre-Order TuSimple’s Self-Driving Trucks

New NTSB Report on Deadly ‘Driverless’ Tesla Crash Claims Texas Investigators Are Wrong

Yet Another Former FMCSA Chief Now Working to Speed Deployment of Driverless Trucks

FMCSA Goes Full Speed Ahead on Project to Promote Self-Driving Trucks