Aurora Innovation announced Tuesday that Charger Logistics USA will begin driverless hauls using the company's second-generation autonomous trucks, starting on the Dallas to Laredo corridor.
Charger will use the Aurora Driver, Aurora's self-driving system, to add capacity to its network and increase truck utilization, according to the news release. The carrier provides truckload, dedicated, temperature-controlled and cross-border services across the US and Mexico, serving the food, pharmaceutical, automotive, retail and consumer products sectors.
Charger Logistics president Andy Khera called autonomous trucking "a transformational opportunity for the freight industry." In the release, he said deploying the Aurora Driver on one of the company's busiest US freight corridors is expected to enhance capacity, improve asset utilization and strengthen service reliability for customers moving temperature-controlled, pharmaceutical and other mission-critical freight, and described the deal as a step toward safe, efficient, technology-enabled logistics.
Aurora vice president of business development Zac Andreoni said in the release that Charger's scale and reach across North America give Aurora a strong foundation to grow from, and that this is the first of many routes the companies expect to bring online together.
Aurora launched its second-generation driverless trucks in July and operates driverless routes across the US Sun Belt. The Dallas to Laredo lane feeds the busiest truck border crossing in North America.