Hirschbach to scale Aurora autonomous fleet to 500

Aurora Innovation and US refrigerated freight carrier Hirschbach Motor Lines have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) for Hirschbach to operate 500 Aurora Driver-powered autonomous trucks. Aurora says the binding agreements are expected to close later this year, with truck deliveries starting in 2027 and a multi-year revenue stream worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

The 500 trucks will run on Aurora’s Driver as a Service (DaaS) model, under which the customer owns the assets while Aurora supplies the autonomy stack. Aurora plans to deploy them on high-volume routes between customer facilities across the US Sun Belt, building on the existing 1,000-mile Fort Worth to Phoenix corridor where Hirschbach is already a customer.

In a statement, Richard Stocking, Chief Executive of Hirschbach Motor Lines, said: “Autonomy isn’t just a business move. It’s a quality-of-life investment for our people. The Aurora Driver will handle the lengthier, less desirable routes, providing our drivers with greater flexibility.”

Aurora says its Driver has now run more than 800,000 miles and delivered over 2,000 loads for Hirschbach to date. The carrier plans a hybrid network in which autonomous trucks handle long-haul routes while company drivers focus on shorter runs that allow them to return home daily, building from the inaugural Dallas to Houston driverless service.

Source: Aurora