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Aurora and McLane Company Partner to Bring Autonomous Trucks to U.S. Restaurant Supply Chain

Business

Aurora and McLane Company Partner to Bring Autonomous Trucks to U.S. Restaurant Supply Chain
Business

Business

Aurora and McLane Company Partner to Bring Autonomous Trucks to U.S. Restaurant Supply Chain

2026-05-06 21:01 Last Updated At:21:11

DALLAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 6, 2026--

Aurora Innovation, Inc. (NASDAQ: AUR) and McLane Company, Inc., a Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK.A) subsidiary, today announced an agreement to begin driverless hauls in Texas with the Aurora Driver, an SAE L4 self-driving system that is first being deployed in long-haul trucking. The partnership enables McLane – one of the largest distributors in America, serving chain restaurants, convenience stores, and mass merchants – to move supplies and perishable food more efficiently for America’s most beloved restaurant brands with autonomous trucks.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260506997128/en/

“The business of moving food is essential to our economy and our way of life. With a 134-year legacy, McLane is deeply woven into the American distribution industry,” said Ossa Fisher, president at Aurora. “We’re excited to enter the next chapter with McLane and transform the American food supply chain with autonomous trucks. Our collective momentum in logistics is palpable."

Proven Safety and Reliability

The companies began their supervised autonomy pilot in 2023. Since then, the Aurora Driver logged over 280,000 autonomous miles in Texas and delivered 1,400 loads for McLane, helping it serve restaurant customers across the state.

Based on Aurora's record of safely delivering goods for McLane with 100% on-time performance, McLane approved the transition to driverless operations between Dallas and Houston. Aurora plans to expand to new routes between McLane distribution centers across the U.S. Sun Belt by the end of the year, with plans to serve additional McLane business in the future.

“We’ve been thoroughly impressed with Aurora’s technology, exceptional safety performance and commitment to operational excellence,” said Susan Adzick, president of McLane Restaurant. “Autonomous technology helps us drive greater efficiency across the supply chain, while our drivers remain focused on the critical last mile—and continuing to serve as the face of our company to customers.”

Strengthening the Supply Chain with Autonomy

During the pilot, Aurora met the demands of McLane’s rigorous schedule, expanding to two round-trips daily between Dallas and Houston, seven days a week. The workflow utilizes a hybrid model: the Aurora Driver manages the long-haul ‘middle mile,’ while McLane drivers handle local deliveries to customer locations. This hybrid model with autonomous and human drivers will continue as the companies deepen their work together.

Autonomous trucks moving refrigerated hauls 24/7 offer scalable, reliable capacity that can flex with demand—bringing greater efficiency to operations and helping address ongoing labor constraints. By supporting more consistent transit schedules and dependable middle-mile coverage, the Aurora Driver helps keep freight moving smoothly.

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 product for trucking. 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.

About McLane

Founded in 1894, McLane Company Inc. is one of the largest distributors in America, serving convenience stores, mass merchants, and chain restaurants. As an industry-leading partner to the biggest retail and restaurant businesses, McLane buys, sells, delivers, and serves the world’s most beloved brands. With headquarters in Temple, Texas, McLane has more than 80 distribution centers across the country, employs more than 25,000 teammates, and delivers to nearly every zip code in the US. McLane is a wholly owned subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway, Inc.

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, those statements around our driverless operations and future financial and operating performance; our ability to meet customer demand, reduce costs and general expectations beyond that year; the safety benefits of our technology and product; our ability to achieve certain milestones around, and realize the potential benefits of, the development, manufacturing, scaling and commercialization of the Aurora Driver and related services, on the timeframe we expect or at all; our relationships with our partners and customers and anticipated benefits that they may derive from our product; and the anticipated impact of our product on the freight industry and economy. Statements in this press release about McLane’s intent to expand its partnership reflect current plans and discussions, and whether that intent is finalized and results in binding orders is subject to definitive documentation, which may not occur on the expected timeline, or at all. 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, 2025, filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) on February 11, 2026, and other documents filed by Aurora from time to time with the SEC, which are accessible on the SEC website at www.sec.gov. Additional information will also be set forth in our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2026. 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.

After a successful pilot program with one of the largest private fleets in America, Aurora transitions to driverless commercial operations on select routes for McLane Company (Credit: Aurora)

After a successful pilot program with one of the largest private fleets in America, Aurora transitions to driverless commercial operations on select routes for McLane Company (Credit: Aurora)

MILAN (AP) — Multiple flights in Europe were targeted by bomb threats on Thursday, forcing emergency landings, searches and in several cases military escorts, in fresh disruptions following hoax threats earlier this week.

More than a dozen flights from cities including Copenhagen, Dublin, Helsinki, Madrid, Milan and Warsaw were confirmed to have been targeted with bomb threats, most diverted to other airports for emergency landings while others landed safely at their destinations. So far inspections have not turned up hazardous or suspicious materials.

Such threats are not new, but the latest incidents come at a time of increased geopolitical tensions and other disruptions, including attacks on supermarket refrigeration systems, drone incursions in Europe and mysterious triggers to alert apps. Authorities have warned that hybrid threats abound.

A flight from Dublin to Rome was diverted to a military air base in western France because of a bomb threat, the French prime minister’s office said. The flight landed safely at the base in Evreux in Normandy, Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu’s office said.

All 151 passengers and six crew members were safe and military bomb disposal teams were examining the plane, the office said. The passengers aboard the Aer Lingus Dublin-Rome flight were questioned and checked in groups of 10 inside the airport, the prime minister's office said.

Hours later, the plane was sitting on the tarmac with a Red Cross vehicle nearby and explosives experts with dogs seen examining the aircraft.

Italian authorities alerted France’s government to the bomb threat on the Aer Lingus flight, and a French warplane escorted it to the Evreux base, the prime minister’s office said. An investigation was opened by French aviation security authorities.

Italian air force fighter jets escorted a Finnair flight from Helsinki to Rome after an email threat was received, according to an airport official with knowledge of the situation. It landed safely at Rome’s Leonardo da Vinci airport at around 9:30 a.m., and no explosive materials were found during an inspection y police bomb disposal experts, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to speak publicly.

Finnair said that two of its flights, including the one that landed in Rome, “faced unfounded hoax bomb scares." Nothing was found aboard Finnair AY1761, and the plane was scheduled to depart for Helsinki.

The other flight, operated by Jettime, from Helsinki to Vienna landed safely at its destination, and was expected to return to service after an inspection was completed, Finnair said.

Czech police said searches of four other planes that landed in Prague after being targeted by bomb threats turned up no threats. They did not give details on where the flights originated, and said they took precautions despite not finding the threats credible.

A LOT Polish Airlines flight from Warsaw to Brussels landed at its destination, where inspections found no hazardous or suspicious items, the airline said.

A Wizz Air flight from Milan to Bucharest landed safely in Bucharest following a bomb threat, airport spokesman Teo Postelnicu said. Checks turned up no threat, and air traffic was continuing on schedule.

A flight to Warsaw landed in Vienna following a mail to Polish authorities containing an abstract threat, said Stefan Loidl, a police spokesperson in Lower Austria province. Nothing was found and the plane continued to Warsaw.

He said there was also a vague threat to Vienna Airport concerning four other flights, which he declined to identify, but operations were not disrupted.

Polish authorities checked a LOT flight that was about to depart from Warsaw to Paris on Thursday morning after a threat was reported at Warsaw’s Chopin Airport, said airport spokesman Piotr Rudzki. No threat was ultimately identified. One runway at Chopin airport was temporarily closed while authorities carried out standard security procedures.

Three Ryanair flights bound for Sofia, Bulgaria, had to make emergency landings because of bomb threats on board. Two of the flights, one from Copenhagen, Denmark, and the other from Madrid, landed safely at Sofia’s Vasil Levski Airport, airport officials told reporters. The third Sofia-bound flight, from London’s Stansted Airport to Sofia, had been diverted and landed safely at the airport in Plovdiv, Bulgaria’s second-largest city, Plovdiv Airport CEO Krassimir Peshev said.

The three planes that made an emergency landing in Sofia and Plovdiv were escorted by fighter jets on air policing duty, the Ministry of Defense said.

Several flights across Europe received hoax bomb threats earlier this week that prompted searches, diversions and, in one case, an escort by the Italian air force until landing, officials said.

The flights included Polish airline LOT, Scandinavian Airlines, Wizz Air and Ryanair. The hoax threats came after a plane headed for Bulgaria was diverted to Hungary after receiving a similar bomb threat while in the air. No one was injured.

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Charlton reported from Paris and Biller from Rome. Associated Press writers throughout Europe contributed to this report.

An Aer Lingus Airbus A320 aircraft is seen at Evreux military air base after a flight from Dublin to Rome was diverted to France amid reports of bomb threats targeting multiple flights across Europe, in Evreux, France, Thursday, Nov. 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Thomas Padilla)

An Aer Lingus Airbus A320 aircraft is seen at Evreux military air base after a flight from Dublin to Rome was diverted to France amid reports of bomb threats targeting multiple flights across Europe, in Evreux, France, Thursday, Nov. 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Thomas Padilla)

An Aer Lingus Airbus A320 aircraft is seen at Evreux military air base after a flight from Dublin to Rome was diverted to France amid reports of bomb threats targeting multiple flights across Europe, in Evreux, France, Thursday, Nov. 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Thomas Padilla)

An Aer Lingus Airbus A320 aircraft is seen at Evreux military air base after a flight from Dublin to Rome was diverted to France amid reports of bomb threats targeting multiple flights across Europe, in Evreux, France, Thursday, Nov. 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Thomas Padilla)

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