Aurora Shifts Gears: Empowering Humans to Take Control of Autonomous Driving

Aurora Innovation is making a notable change by placing a human back behind the wheel of its autonomous trucks in Texas. This comes just weeks after launching their commercial self-driving service.

The shift to have an “observer” sit in the driver’s seat instead of the back was prompted by Paccar Inc., the truck manufacturer. According to Aurora’s CEO Chris Urmson, while these vehicles will still be primarily controlled by their autonomous system, having someone up front allows for rapid intervention if necessary.

“We believe this isn’t essential for safe operation based on our extensive testing—covering nearly 10,000 criteria and over 2.7 million tests,” Urmson noted on May 16. “Though, we value our partnership wiht Paccar and took their request seriously.”

This decision follows aurora’s announcement on May 1 about starting commercial trucking services with two fully autonomous trucks from Paccar—marking a significant milestone as it was their first venture into public road operations. The company has plans to extend its services to El Paso and Phoenix later this year.

The recent update hints at some differences between Aurora and Paccar regarding safety measures during the initial phase of this driverless service rollout.Urmson mentioned that concerns arose due to specific prototype components used in these trucks.

A spokesperson from Paccar did not respond when asked for comments regarding this situation.

Adding fuel to speculation about operational readiness,a report from Bleecker Street Research on May 14 claimed that Aurora had yet to secure permission from Paccar for commercializing its autonomous vehicles and suggested that further development might be needed before full deployment could occur.

Leadership Changes Amidst Challenges

Aurora has faced some turbulence recently with key leadership exits; General Motors announced that Sterling Anderson, co-founder and Chief Product Officer of Aurora, would be joining them in the same role. Other departures include General Counsel Nolan Shenai earlier this year and Yanbing Li who left last August for Datadog Inc.

This evolving landscape highlights both challenges and opportunities within the realm of automated transportation technology as companies navigate partnerships while striving toward innovation.
 

Tune into today’s briefing or check out more details here: