Aurora said its “small” fleet of vehicles will move to the Dallas and Fort Worth area in the next few weeks. The company tests its hardware and software in both Chrysler Pacifica minivans, also popular with Urmson’s former employers in Waymo, and Class 8 trucks.

According to the startup, its first commercial service will operate in the truck segment, where ” where the market is today the largest, the savings per unit of transport are the highest, and the level of service requirements is the most acceptable .”

According to the startup, the acquisition of Blackmore lidar developers and the integration of its technology into the autonomous driving system of the truck made its transition to this mode of transport possible. Aurora said the FirstLight Lidar has provided it with a decisive competitive advantage in high-speed driving.

Self-propelled trucks were once considered a niche category in the autonomous vehicle industry. But now the approach to this segment has changed, as there is an understanding of the possibility of actually increasing the efficiency of the use of trucks using autonomous driving technologies.