Aurora Innovation runs fully driverless Class 8 trucks on public highways in Texas and the Sun Belt today. As of its second-quarter 2026 shareholder letter (July 29, 2026), the trucks were hauling paid freight on lanes such as Dallas–Laredo, Fort Worth–Phoenix and Midland–Monahans, and Aurora said it is booked to finish 2026 with 200 driverless trucks on the road. You can’t ride in one or buy one: Aurora sells freight capacity to shippers and carriers, not trucks to drivers.
This page uses Aurora’s own filings first and was checked on October 19, 2026. Aurora’s third-quarter letter, due after this date, will update the numbers below.
Where Aurora’s driverless trucks run
Aurora’s network is a set of freight lanes, not a city service area. Its first-quarter 2026 letter said the network had grown to 12 routes, without listing all of them. The lanes Aurora names in its 2026 letters are:
- Dallas–Laredo, Texas: validated for driverless operation in both directions by the end of March 2026, and run for Charger Logistics and Value Truck.
- Fort Worth–Phoenix: about 1,000 miles, one of the longest driverless runs in the U.S. (Trucking Info reported the lane’s addition). Value Truck uses it.
- Midland–Monahans, Texas (I-20): a West Texas run hauling frac sand trailers for Detmar Logistics and Capital Sand.
- Dallas–Oklahoma City: opened with supervised autonomy for a Volvo Autonomous Solutions customer, ahead of driverless validation.
Aurora started its first commercial driverless run between Dallas and Houston in 2025, and Texas remains the center of the network. California now allows driverless truck deployment under its new rules; Aurora told shareholders it has applied to start testing there with drivers on board.
How big the fleet is and what the numbers say
The Q2 2026 letter reported nearly 440,000 cumulative driverless miles through June 2026, a 100% on-time record, and no collisions attributed to the Aurora Driver. Aurora’s total commercial miles, including trucks with drivers, passed 6 million.
The fleet count is the number to watch. Aurora gave these targets:
- 20 to 25 second-generation driverless trucks in operation by the end of the third quarter of 2026
- 200 driverless trucks in operation by the end of 2026, which Aurora says are already allocated to customers
- about $80 million in annualized freight revenue from those trucks as 2026 ends
For scale, Aurora reported $2 million in revenue and a $266 million operating loss for the second quarter, with about $1.2 billion in cash and short-term investments. Its full-year 2026 revenue guidance is $14 million to $16 million, more than half of it expected in the fourth quarter. The business only works if the truck count grows on schedule.
Is anyone in the cab?
On the new trucks, no. In July 2026 Aurora launched a fleet built on the International LT series with nobody behind the wheel. Earlier trucks had carried an observer in the cab at a manufacturing partner’s request; the Q1 letter said the second-generation hardware would allow operation without that partner-requested observer.
Driverless here means no human driving or monitoring from the seat. Aurora still supervises the fleet remotely, and it is testing weigh-station handling and on-route fueling with people supervising before those tasks go driverless.
What hardware the trucks use
Aurora doesn’t build trucks. It fits its self-driving system, the Aurora Driver, to trucks from major manufacturers.
- International LT (second-generation kit): the first commercial platform for the new kit. Aurora says the kit is designed to last one million miles, uses a more efficient computer, and pairs with its FirstLight lidar, which sees about one kilometer ahead, more than 34 seconds of warning at highway speed. Aurora expects the new kit to cut its hardware cost by more than half. Roush, which installs the kits, expected to reach a rate of 1,000 trucks a year in October 2026.
- Volvo VNL Autonomous: Volvo Autonomous Solutions already hauls freight in Texas for DSV and AVI-SPL using Aurora’s system. Driverless Volvo operations are planned for the first quarter of 2027, and Volvo expects more than 300 driverless trucks by the end of 2027.
- Third-generation kit: built by AUMOVIO, with production planned for the second half of 2027. Aurora and PACCAR are working on fitting it to a future PACCAR platform.
Who can use Aurora’s driverless trucks
The buyers are freight companies. Aurora’s current model is Transportation as a Service: a shipper or carrier pays Aurora to move loads on a covered lane, and Aurora runs the truck. Charger Logistics and Value Truck signed agreements of this kind. McLane, Hirschbach, Uber Freight, Werner, FedEx and Schneider appear in Aurora’s 2026 letters as freight customers.
From 2027, Aurora plans a second model, Driver as a Service, where a carrier owns the truck and pays to use the Aurora Driver. Aurora says it is negotiating these deals; none has been announced as signed.
If you’re a shipper, the practical question is whether your loads move on one of the lanes above. Off those lanes, Aurora has nothing to offer you yet.
The rule that still needs fixing
Federal rules written for human drivers require warning triangles to be set out by hand when a truck stops on the shoulder. A driverless truck has nobody to do that. The BUILD America 250 Act, which passed the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee 62–2 in May 2026, would set a federal framework for autonomous trucks and allow cab-mounted warning beacons instead. As of October 19, 2026 it was a committee-passed bill, not law.
What to check next
- Third-quarter results: whether Aurora reached 20 to 25 second-generation driverless trucks.
- End of 2026: whether the fleet reached 200 trucks and new lanes went driverless.
- First quarter of 2027: Volvo’s driverless launch.
For the passenger side of autonomous driving, see how Waymo fares and cities work and where the Nuro, Uber and Lucid robotaxi stands.
Kodiak AI took a different route, starting with driverless hauling in the Permian Basin oil field before highways. See Kodiak AI driverless trucks in 2026.