Aurora Innovation has opened the industry’s first lane for driverless trucks supported by commercial-ready terminals in both Dallas and Houston, the company announced.

Pittsburgh-based Aurora—which aims to begin rolling totally human-free trucks between Dallas and Houston by late 2024, said nearly half of all truck freight in Texas moves along I-45 between Dallas and Houston, making the corridor an ideal route for its commercial launch.

Similar to its first terminal in South Dallas, Aurora said its new terminal in Houston is designed to support and service driverless trucks at a commercial scale.

“Opening a driverless trucking lane flanked by commercially ready terminals is an industry-first that unlocks our ability to launch our driverless trucking product,” Sterling Anderson, co-founder and chief product officer, said in a statement. “With this corridor’s launch, we’ve defined, refined, and validated the framework for the expansion of our network with the largest partner ecosystem in the autonomous trucking industry.”

Aurora said it uses terminals to house, maintain, prepare, inspect, and deploy autonomous trucks between destinations. It’s developed an “innovative” terminal blueprint to implement a layout and list of features that make its terminals commercial-ready for the launch of driverless operations, the company added—maximizing the time autonomous trucks are on the road hauling freight.

For example, on-site weigh stations support enhanced pretrip inspections, which ensure Aurora’s trucks are compliant with regulatory standards while allowing them to bypass inspection sites on the road. That promotes safe operations and results in a more efficient trip with fewer stops, Aurora said.

Command Center readying to support driverless trucks

Aurora said its terminal locations are chosen with its customers in mind.

Aurora’s newly opened Houston terminal is in a logistics hub near its pilot customers, including FedEx and others, making it easy to seamlessly integrate autonomous trucks into their middle-mile operations.

Aurora said the ability to service and support driverless trucks 24/7/365 is critical to launching a product that can handle dynamic demand. Aurora’s terminals operate day and night, supporting their trucks as they haul more than 75 loads a week for pilot customers.

Aurora said that its Command Center is being readied to support around-the-clock commercial operations.

Aurora’s Command Center includes a team of remote specialists who monitor and provide guidance to the active fleet of Aurora-powered trucks, and dispatchers who allocate trucks, trailers, and vehicle operators to missions, the company said. The command center already supports commercial pilot hauls and is prepared to support driverless missions.

“Bringing our commercial-ready terminals and services online a year ahead of our planned commercial driverless launch between Dallas and Houston enables us to focus next year on integrating our driver-ready trucks into our customers’ operations,” Anderson said.

In July, Aurora raised $820 million in public and private stock sales to help move its Dallas-Houston autonomous trucking runs to commercial launch.

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