Aurora Freight
First self-driving trucks commercially delivering goods on America's roads.
Trucking is a $700B industry in the U.S.—nearly everything we own has traveled on the back of a truck. Aurora is on a mission to build the safest driver of the future by automating middle-mile delivery. In partnership with Peterbilt, Kenworth, Volvo, and Continental, we’re developing the world’s first scalable autonomous trucking platform.
How might we design autonomous vehicle hardware that is safe for public roads, adaptable across platforms and fleets, efficient and cost-effective to operate, and desirable and approachable to the public?
Hardware and physical touchpoints required to commercially deliver autonomous trucking solutions to businesses and partners.
＞ Commercially launched a fleet of self-driving trucks delivering customer goods in Texas.
＞ Established Autonomy Enabled Trucks with OEMs and Tier 1 manufacturer to industrialize the Aurora Driver.
＞ 30% improvement in aerodynamic efficiency on the Aurora Driver Kit compared to its predecessor—contributing to $1M reduction in fuel costs annually in a 1,000 truck fleet.
John Paxton, Albert Shane, Wayne Jackson and many many more.
Hardware Programs and generations.
Crawling, walking, running.
In 2022 we designed and produced two concept trucks to share our vision with internal teams, partners, and the broader industry.
The work showcased a common, transferable design strategy adaptable across platforms, and were unveiled at the American Trucking Association Convention in 2022. This work played a key role in securing a formal partnership with PACCAR, a market leader holding 30% of the US trucking market.
Demonstrate and prove that the product works—In 2025, Aurora officially launched commercial operations in partnership with Uber Freight along the busiest freight corridor in the U.S.—the route between Dallas and Houston.
As part of this milestone, we designed and delivered a low volume of roadworthy self-driving trucks, along with the Aurora terminals and physical touch points required to support a fully operational, self-driving middle-mile freight network.
Validate scalability of our product and viability of our business model—to scale the offering, we partnered with Aurora’s OEM partners to set standards on Autonomy Enabled Trucks to deliver safety critical and plug-and-play hardware integration. We implemented significant hardware optimizations and efficiencies to support commercial viability of the business.
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As part of this initiative, we achieved a 30% improvement in aerodynamic efficiency on the Aurora Driver Kit compared to its predecessor—contributing to a meaningful reduction in truck operating costs.
Industrialize the Aurora Driver—In collaboration with Continental and Aurora's OEM partners, we are developing the Aurora Driver as a scalable, automotive-grade product ready for commercial deployment. This work supports Aurora’s long-term goal of scaling autonomous trucking operations nationwide.
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We are currently working closely with our partners to make this a reality.
Delivering Aurora's first customer-ready product.
Eyes and ears.
Allowing the driver to clearly see the world is the first step to safety—sensors are the eyes and ears to autonomous vehicles. Sensor pods composed of various LiDARs, radars, cameras and microphones are strategically placed on the truck and packaged to ensure visibility of it's surrounding.
Integrating onto OEM platforms.
Deep platform integration builds public confidence—we took a deliberate approach to structurally integrate to Aurora hardware kit to the platform. This work carved a path towards designing and defining Autonomy Enabled Trucks for OEMs that will provide a plug and play integration path for deployment of Autonomy broadly and quickly.
Platform agnostic sensor pod design language lowers the barriers for new partnerships. The common design strategy allowed Aurora Driver to be integrated to multiple platforms without skewing to strongly to one OEM or the other.
Great aerodynamics unlock customer buy-in—efficient aerodynamics is an important feature for OEMs. Fuel efficiency is a key performance metric and selling point for customers and OEM partners.
Build in hardware and design provisions for volatility—self driving is an advanced technology industry that is quickly growing and interdependent on various partners, industries and adjacent technologies.
Commercial launch—say hello to the first self driving freight system on American roads.
In April 2025, Aurora successfully and commercially launched the Aurora Driver, autonomously hauling customer freight between Dallas and Houston, Texas. Backed by carriers and customers like Uber Freight, Werner, FedEx and many more, this milestone marks the first commercial deployment of an autonomous 18-wheeler freight service in the United States.
Touchpoints that come together to enable the freight operations
The exterior light bar is a safety-critical feature of the Aurora Driver, designed to communicate the vehicle’s state and intent to the world around it. It signals whether the vehicle is in autonomous mode, indicates when it’s safe to approach, and acts as a modern emergency triangle when stopped on public roads.
My contributions focused on:
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Defining key functionalities of the light bar based on real-world safety needs.
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Identifying optimal placement for clear visibility and quick recognition.
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Developing a visual language of light behaviors to communicate effectively with terminal operators and nearby pedestrians.
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Interface is key to adoption of autonomous vehicles. Interior HMI is a touchpoint and work stream needed to bring up the Aurora Driver for a mission. The input and feedback loop needed to be clear and in sync with the platform information. Consistent across generations.
My contributions focused on:
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Interactions and feedback for safe and intuitive engagement during the bring up process.
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Every freight transport trip requires documents regarding the trailer and tractor that needs to be presented to law enforcements if the truck gets pulled over. It is required to carry physical copies of the documents and allow the officer to inspect the cabin if needed.
My contributions focused on:
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Physical User Experience of how external actors may engagement with autonomous trucks and the facilitation of enabling law-enforcements to conduct their needs.
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Defining the placement of document and key lockbox for external actor engagements.
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Sourcing off-the-shelve security mechanisms to store and protect documents and key to the cabin.
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The vehicle’s information architecture is a system that ensures external actors, such as first responders, inspectors, and service partners, can quickly and safely engage with Aurora’s autonomous trucks. It provides the information needed for rescue operations, service interactions, and compliance with USDOT regulations, while guiding people to the exact locations or access points they may need.
My contributions focused on:
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Understanding inspection workflow and structuring the information needed for externals during off-nominal cases.
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Sketching the Hotline function on how and what services would be provided.
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Executing and implementing the information on a fleet of trucks.
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The work focused on learning from terminal operations to optimize the service and maintenance of Aurora hardware, embedding these insights into ongoing and future hardware development.
My contributions focused on:
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Translating operational learnings into hardware features that improve serviceability and maintenance efficiency at scale.
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Proposing workflow improvements to streamline vehicle inspection and mission preparation.
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Refining A-surface geometries and integrating sensor-cleaning solutions informed by real-world service and environmental conditions.
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Key activities to support the work and delivery.
Roadworthy low volume production methods present unique opportunities and constraints.
Designing for low-volume production required balancing economy of scale with quality of outcome. We selected manufacturing methods based on part size and production quantity, leveraging a combination of thermoforming and casting for the sensor pod covers.
For larger parts in lower quantities, thermoforming provided an efficient, cost-effective solution without compromising quality. For smaller parts in higher quantities, casting delivered consistency, precision, and scalability. This approach allowed us to optimize cost, lead time, and durability while maintaining a high standard of fit and finish.
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From Gen1 to Gen2, we achieved a 30% reduction in aerodynamic drag, translating to over $1M in annual fuel savings for a fleet of 1,000 trucks. Continued refinements in later generations delivered even greater aerodynamic efficiency, further reducing drag and operational costs. These measurable gains strengthened OEM partner commitments, validating our design approach and reinforcing the value of aerodynamic innovation in long-haul freight operations.
Guiding Aurora’s partners in the development of autonomous hardware was critical to industrializing and commercializing efforts.
We drove horizontal alignment with partners such as Volvo, Peterbilt, Kenworth, and Continental by establishing design envelopes, keep-out zones, and hardware requirements. This collaborative framework ensured that Aurora’s autonomous systems could be seamlessly integrated into multiple OEM platforms, enabling both Aurora and its partners to accelerate development, reduce integration risks, and bring compatible, production-ready self-driving trucks to market.Text
