Aurora Expands Driverless Trucking Service from Fort Worth to El Paso

PITTSBURGH--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct 28, 2025--

Aurora Innovation, Inc. (NASDAQ: AUR), the leader in self-driving freight, today announced the rapid expansion of its commercial operations by launching a second driverless route from Fort Worth to El Paso. This comes as the company surpasses 100,000 driverless miles on public roads and shares its plan to deploy hundreds of driverless trucks with its next-generation Aurora Driver hardware in 2026, fortifying a clear path to meet strong customer demand.

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“Six months out from launch, we’re achieving more industry-firsts, expanding quickly, and paving the way to deploy hundreds of trucks next year,” said Chris Urmson, co-founder and CEO at Aurora. “Expanding to El Paso, notching over 100,000 driverless miles, and integrating our new hardware with multiple truck platforms extends our strong lead.”

Rapid Scaling and Operational Excellence

The launch of the 600-mile lane from Fort Worth to El Paso, just six months after the inaugural Dallas to Houston route, marks the fastest scaling to a second market in the U.S. self-driving industry. Staffing challenges and the difficulty of completing the 10-hour haul in a single day make the route daunting for carriers, underscoring the Aurora Driver’s value in providing reliable, around-the-clock operations. Customers on the El Paso route include Hirschbach Motor Lines, an early adopter of the Aurora Driver, Russell Transport and others.

The expansion coincides with the Aurora Driver surpassing 100,000 driverless miles on public roads. With five driverless trucks now regularly delivering customer freight, Aurora continues to maintain its perfect driverless on-time and safety record.

Next-Generation Hardware: Ready for Deployment in 2026

Aurora also unveiled next-generation hardware, which is designed to reduce overall cost by half while boosting performance and durability. Key features include:

The new hardware is manufactured by Fabrinet and precedes the highly-scalable hardware being jointly developed with AUMOVIO (formerly Continental), which is slated for production in 2027 and is expected to enable the deployment of tens of thousands of trucks.

Simultaneous Platform Integration

The Aurora Driver’s common core architecture allows for seamless integration across multiple truck platforms. The new hardware is being integrated with the Volvo VNL Autonomous, where lineside integration is taking place at Volvo’s New River Valley manufacturing facility, and a new fleet of International® LT® Series Class 8 vehicles at Aurora’s Pittsburgh hardware facilities.

“The integration of Aurora’s next-generation hardware with the Volvo VNL Autonomous on the pilot line at our New River Valley facility marks an industry-first partnership and highlights the meaningful progress we are making together,” said Nils Jaeger, President of Volvo Autonomous Solutions. “By manufacturing trucks purpose-built for autonomy, we’re moving beyond prototypes and creating scalable solutions that are ready to meet the demands of a modern supply chain.”

PACCAR continues to test its autonomy-enabled truck platform at its facilities. Aurora then plans to integrate the platform with the highly-scalable hardware being co-developed with AUMOVIO.

Expanding Customer Capacity

The addition of the International LT Series vehicles is key to providing customers with greater driverless capacity in 2026. Aurora has successfully begun testing the new fleet at its closed test track. Upon completion of a closed safety case for these trucks, Aurora plans to haul freight without a partner-requested observer in Q2 2026 and already has customer interest for this capacity.

“As an early adopter, we embrace the opportunity to help define the future of freight technology,” said Richard Stocking, President & CEO of Hirschbach Motor Lines. “Integrating an additional fleet strengthens our driverless capacity — a vital advancement in ensuring we meet customer demand and deliver operational excellence.”

Aurora Announces Third Quarter 2025 Results

Today Aurora also announced its third quarter 2025 results. The company’s shareholder letter and financial results are available on its investor relations website at ir.aurora.tech. Aurora will host a business review conference call today, October 28, at 5:00 p.m. ET. The conference call will be webcast on Aurora’s investor relations website and an accompanying presentation has also been posted to the website. A replay will be accessible for 30 days following the call.

About Aurora

Aurora (Nasdaq: AUR) is delivering the benefits of self-driving technology safely, quickly, and broadly to make transportation safer, increasingly accessible, and more reliable and efficient than ever before. The Aurora Driver is a self-driving system designed to operate multiple vehicle types, from freight-hauling trucks to ride-hailing passenger vehicles, and underpins Aurora’s driver as a service products for trucking and ride-hailing. Aurora is working with industry leaders across the transportation ecosystem, including AUMOVIO, FedEx, Hirschbach, NVIDIA, PACCAR, Ryder, Schneider, Toyota, Uber, Uber Freight, Volvo Trucks, Volvo Autonomous Solutions, and Werner. To learn more, visit aurora.tech.

Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws. All statements contained in this press release that do not relate to matters of historical fact should be considered forward-looking statements, including but not limited to, our ability to achieve certain milestones around, and realize the potential benefits of the development, manufacturing, scaling (including, but not limited to, the lane expansion strategy, fleet size and our product’s availability and capabilities) and commercialization, and realization of the potential benefits, of the Aurora Driver and FirstLight Lidar, and related services and technology on the timeframe we expect or at all, the relationships and anticipated benefits with customers and partners, the timing for developing, and the anticipated benefits of the Aurora Driver hardware, the anticipated impact of our product on the freight industry and economy, our expected market share and competitive position, the efficiency and effectiveness of our validation process and the profitability of our products and services, and the anticipated impact of our product on the freight industry and economy. These statements are based on management’s current assumptions and are neither promises nor guarantees, but involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other important factors that may cause our actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. For factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements in this press release, please see the risks and uncertainties identified under the heading “Risk Factors” section of Aurora Innovation, Inc.’s (“Aurora”) Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2024, filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) on February 14, 2025, and other documents filed by Aurora from time to time with the SEC, which are accessible on the SEC website atwww.sec.gov. Additional information will also be set forth in Aurora’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2025. All forward-looking statements reflect our beliefs and assumptions only as of the date of this press release. Aurora undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements to reflect future events or circumstances.

Aurora’s next-generation hardware is being integrated with multiple platforms, including the International LT Series, which is slated for driverless deployment without an observer in Q2 2026. (Photo: Aurora)

NUUK, Greenland (AP) — Troops from several European countries continued to arrive in Greenland on Thursday in a show of support for Denmark as talks between representatives of Denmark, Greenland and the U.S. highlighted “fundamental disagreement” over the future of the Arctic island.

Denmark announced it would increase its military presence in Greenland on Wednesday as foreign ministers from Denmark and Greenland were preparing to meet with White House representatives in Washington. Several European partners — including France, Germany, the U.K., Norway, Sweden and the Netherlands — started sending symbolic numbers of troops already on Wednesday or promised to do so in the following days.

The troop movements were intended to portray unity among Europeans and send a signal to President Donald Trump that an American takeover of Greenland is not necessary as NATO together can safeguard the security of the Arctic region amid rising Russian and Chinese interest.

“The first French military elements are already en route” and “others will follow,” French President Emmanuel Macron announced Wednesday, as French authorities said about 15 soldiers from the mountain infantry unit were already in Nuuk for a military exercise.

Germany will deploy a reconnaissance team of 13 personnel to Greenland on Thursday, the Defense Ministry said.

On Thursday, Danish Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen said the intention was “to establish a more permanent military presence with a larger Danish contribution,” according to Danish broadcaster DR. He said soldiers from several NATO countries will be in Greenland on a rotation system.

Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen, flanked by his Greenlandic counterpart Vivian Motzfeldt, said Wednesday that a “fundamental disagreement” over Greenland remains with Trump after they held highly anticipated talks at the White House with Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

Rasmussen added that it remains “clear that the president has this wish of conquering over Greenland” but that dialogue with the U.S. would continue at a high level over the following weeks.

Inhabitants of Greenland and Denmark reacted with anxiety but also some relief that negotiations with the U.S. would go on and European support was becoming visible.

Greenland's Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen welcomed the continuation of “dialogue and diplomacy.”

“Greenland is not for sale,” he said Thursday. “Greenland does not want to be owned by the United States. Greenland does not want to be governed from the United States. Greenland does not want to be part of the United States.”

In Greenland’s capital, Nuuk, local residents told The Associated Press they were glad the first meeting between Greenlandic, Danish and American officials had taken place but suggested it left more questions than answers.

Several people said they viewed Denmark’s decision to send more troops, and promises of support from other NATO allies, as protection against possible U.S. military action. But European military officials have not suggested the goal is to deter a U.S. move against the island.

Maya Martinsen, 21, said it was “comforting to know that the Nordic countries are sending reinforcements” because Greenland is a part of Denmark and NATO.

The dispute, she said, is not about “national security” but rather about “the oils and minerals that we have that are untouched.”

On Wednesday, Poulsen announced a stepped-up military presence in the Arctic “in close cooperation with our allies,” calling it a necessity in a security environment in which “no one can predict what will happen tomorrow.”

“This means that from today and in the coming time there will be an increased military presence in and around Greenland of aircraft, ships and soldiers, including from other NATO allies,” Poulsen said.

Asked whether the European troop movements were coordinated with NATO or what role the U.S.-led military alliance might play in the exercises, NATO referred all questions to the Danish authorities. However, NATO is currently studying ways to bolster security in the Arctic.

The Russian embassy in Brussels on Thursday lambasted what it called the West's “bellicose plans” in response to “phantom threats that they generate themselves”. It said the planned military actions were part of an “anti-Russian and anti-Chinese agenda” by NATO.

“Russia has consistently maintained that the Arctic should remain a territory of peace, dialogue and equal cooperation," the embassy said.

Rasmussen announced the creation of a working group with the Americans to discuss ways to work through differences.

“The group, in our view, should focus on how to address the American security concerns, while at the same time respecting the red lines of the Kingdom of Denmark,” he said.

Commenting on the outcome of the Washington meeting on Thursday, Poulsen said the working group was “better than no working group” and “a step in the right direction.” He added nevertheless that the dialogue with the U.S. did not mean “the danger has passed.”

Speaking on Thursday, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said the American ambition to take over Greenland remains intact despite the Washington meeting, but she welcomed the creation of the working group.

The most important thing for Greenlanders is that they were directly represented at the meeting in the White House and that “the diplomatic dialogue has begun now,” Juno Berthelsen, a lawmaker for the pro-independence Naleraq opposition party, told AP.

A relationship with the U.S. is beneficial for Greenlanders and Americans and is “vital to the security and stability of the Arctic and the Western Alliance,” Berthelsen said. He suggested the U.S. could be involved in the creation of a coastguard for Greenland, providing funding and creating jobs for local people who can help to patrol the Arctic.

Line McGee, 38, from Copenhagen, told AP that she was glad to see some diplomatic progress. “I don’t think the threat has gone away,” she said. “But I feel slightly better than I did yesterday.”

Trump, in his Oval Office meeting with reporters, said: “We’ll see how it all works out. I think something will work out.”

Niemann reported from Copenhagen, Denmark, and Ciobanu from Warsaw, Poland.

Denmark's Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen and Greenland's Foreign Minister Vivian Motzfeldt speak at a news conference at the Embassy of Denmark, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/John McDonnell)

People walk on a street in Nuuk, Greenland, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

From center to right, Greenland Foreign Minister Vivian Motzfeldt, Denmark's Ambassador Jesper Møller Sørensen, rear, and Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen, right, arrive on Capitol Hill to meet with senators from the Arctic Caucus, in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

An Airbus A400M transport aircraft of the German Air Force taxis over the grounds at Wunstorf Air Base in the Hanover region, Germany, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026 as troops from NATO countries, including France and Germany, are arriving in Greenland to boost security. (Moritz Frankenberg/dpa via AP)

Fishermen load fishing lines into a boat in the harbor of Nuuk, Greenland, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

Greenland Foreign Minister Vivian Motzfeldt, left, and Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen, arrive on Capitol Hill to meet with members of the Senate Arctic Caucus, in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)