Aurora targets 200 autonomous trucks in Texas by year-end

Volvo plans 300 more with Aurora, Waabi by end of 2027

Aurora Innovation plans to expand its fleet of autonomous trucks on Texas highways to 200 by the end of 2026, up from about 30 in operation today, the company said. The Pittsburgh-based company runs its driverless rigs primarily along the I-45 corridor between Dallas and Houston, a flat, straight stretch of highway that has become a proving ground for the technology.

I-45 between Dallas and Houston currently hosts dozens of driverless big rigs, the Wall Street Journal reported — some operating without human drivers and others with a safety operator riding along. “Moving goods across the U.S. is getting more expensive, with fewer drivers and surging fuel costs,” WSJ’s Esther Fung wrote.

Volvo Autonomous Solutions plans to roll out 300 autonomous trucks with Aurora and Waabi by the end of 2027 in Texas and Oklahoma, the companies said. Aurora projects that by 2030, 30,000 autonomous trucks could be on U.S. roads.

The current generation of driverless big rigs is best suited for middle-mile highway runs, the WSJ reported. A truck drives itself from one depot to another, where a worker unloads the trailer or a human driver takes over for docking or the final mile. Driverless 18-wheelers cannot yet back up without a human at the wheel, though the companies said they are working on that capability.

Waabi chief operating officer Lior Ron said the federal regulatory environment for autonomous trucking is more supportive than at any time he has seen. “I have never seen a more supportive regulatory environment from the federal government,” Ron said.

Diesel market conditions help explain the industry’s interest in autonomous long-haul freight. Distillate inventories — which include diesel and heating oil — sat at 12% below year-earlier levels in the week ending Oct. 9, according to the Energy Information Administration. The shortfall was especially pronounced on the East Coast, where inventories were more than a fifth lower than a year earlier.

New York Harbor distillate crack spreads, a key measure of U.S. diesel refining margins, are holding above $100 a barrel, the WSJ reported. The problem, the WSJ said, is not simply expensive crude but a shortage of refined products. Inventory draws are projected to accelerate in October as seasonal demand rises and refineries undergo routine maintenance, leaving the market with little margin for error ahead of winter.

Efforts to ease pressure on refined-fuel markets — including emergency stock releases and the easing of restrictions on Russian exports — have not reversed the price trend, the WSJ said. Wholesale diesel benchmarks in the U.S. and Europe have more than doubled year to date, the WSJ reported.