By Sterling Anderson
Today we're excited to share that we've entered into a global strategic partnership with PACCAR in preparation for the delivery of the Aurora Driver’s first application in trucking. This partnership combines PACCAR’s considerable expertise in heavy-duty truck development, manufacturing, and sales with our deep understanding of autonomous vehicle technology to bring a safe, efficient self-driving product to market quickly and deploy it broadly.
We’ve been laying the groundwork for this product and this partnership for some time. Many of our test vehicles today are built on PACCAR’s trucks. Our industry-leading sensor suite is unique in its ability to safely operate them, and our vehicle-agnostic Driver was developed to quickly and seamlessly adapt to them. Finally, the flexible ecosystem we’re developing will allow shippers and carriers to seamlessly integrate these trucks into their existing operations.
This partnership builds on that foundation in two key ways—both of which are a first for both PACCAR and Aurora in the trucking space:
Our next-generation trucks, which are being tested in Texas, are Peterbilts and outfitted with our FirstLight Lidar sensor suite.
The industry’s definition of “leading” will change this year. While Aurora as a company has not been a part of this industry as long as others, our people have. And when experienced people get a fresh start with next-generation technology, it can be difficult to match their speed. Combine that speed with strong partnerships built on mutual respect and a common vision, and you’re in business. It's an exciting time for Aurora, for PACCAR, and for the industry, and we look forward to sharing the continued progress we'll make together as we deliver the benefits of self-driving technology safely, quickly, and broadly.
The momentum continues at Aurora and we’re hiring in all disciplines to help us solve one of the biggest challenges of our generation. Check out our careers page to see open positions and learn more about what it’s like to work at Aurora.
When we announced our long-term, global, strategic collaboration with Toyota earlier this year, we set out to develop a self-driving car for autonomous ride-hailing. Built upon the progress made by Toyota and Uber ATG, and the integration process we established in the Aurora Driver Development Program, we’ve moved faster than anticipated toward our goal.
Today, we’re excited to share a first look at the Aurora-powered Volvo VNL, Volvo’s flagship long-haul truck, integrated with the Aurora Driver’s sensor suite. This prototype is the first of the Volvo VNL fleet to be designed to operate with the Aurora Driver, and represents a significant step as we begin building commercial L4 Class 8 trucks at scale for Volvo’s North American customers.
In 1978, Intel launched the first of what would become an enormously successful line of microprocessors. While these processors were impressive for their time, the secret to their success lay not in their specs, but in the common family of instruction set architectures that Intel designed for them.