Continental & Aurora Partner to Commercially Scale-up Autonomous Trucking Systems

Continental and Aurora Innovation, Inc. have entered into an exclusive partnership to deliver the first commercially scalable generation of Aurora’s hardware and software system for autonmous transport, the Aurora Driver. The companies will jointly design, develop, validate, deliver, and service the scalable autonomous system for the trucking industry.

The system is expected to be available for carriers and commercial fleet operators across the US.

Continental will leverage its experience in systems development for safer, more reliable automotive solutions to industrialise the Aurora Driver.

The start of production is expected in 2027, following the expected launch of Aurora Horizon, Aurora’s subscription trucking service underpinned by the Aurora Driver, in 2024.

Aurora is already working with industry leaders across the transportation ecosystem, including Toyota, FedEx, Volvo Trucks, PACCAR, Uber, and Uber Freight US.

Nikolai Setzer, CEO of Continental, says: “At Continental, we are proud to demonstrate our leading technology expertise by being responsible for the development, manufacturing and implementation of the autonomous driving system kits and the fallback path for Aurora’s autonomy system. In this exclusive partnership, we bundle our systems competence with Aurora’s industry-leading autonomous technology for our common goal to jointly realize the first commercially scalable autonomous trucking systems. A crucial step towards autonomous mobility.”

“Delivering autonomous vehicles at scale has the potential to dramatically transform modern transportation, bringing new accessibility, safety and efficiency to the movement of goods and people,” adds Chris Urmson, co-founder and CEO at Aurora. “Continental's legacy in development and industrialization of automated driving systems, combined with its commitment to transform transportation make it an ideal partner for Aurora. Their depth of expertise will be pivotal to scaling Aurora’s autonomous trucking service, Aurora Horizon."

Frank Petznick, head of the Autonomous Mobility Business Area, comments: “Continental and Aurora will bring the commercial freight market, limited by supply chain constraints in many markets of the world, to a new service level. The first commercially scalable autonomous trucking system provides exciting opportunities for passenger transportation in the coming years and paves the way for broad adoption of autonomous mobility.”

Continental develops pioneering technologies and services for sustainable and connected mobility of people and their goods.