Stress test during trucking’s peak season
underscores the value autonomous solutions can bring to carriers of
every size on the Uber Freight network
Uber Freight, a leading logistics platform and partner for
shippers and carriers, and Aurora Innovation (NASDAQ: AUR), a
leading autonomous vehicle company, have announced the expansion of
their autonomous pilot with a new commercial lane between Fort
Worth and El Paso. The 600-mile lane across Texas launched in
October and is supporting Uber Freight customers as they prepare
for the 2022 holiday season.
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Aurora and Uber Freight aim to unlock
autonomous truck capacity for carriers with Aurora Horizon, which
will be deployed in the coming years and serve carriers across the
Uber Freight platform. Photo: Aurora.
As online shopping increasingly becomes the status quo around
the holidays, so has the potential for delays, errors, higher
pricing, and low product inventory. During peak season, it’s
expected that approximately 1 billion packages will be shipped
within the U.S. alone. To help Uber Freight customers meet demand,
Aurora’s autonomous trucking service, Aurora Horizon, is making
weekly hauls of consumer and wholesale goods across the state with
its latest generation of trucks, based on PACCAR’s Peterbilt
579M.
“The holidays are a challenging time for the logistics industry.
We’re crafting Aurora Horizon to help carriers of all sizes
alleviate some of the supply chain pressures that typically
accompany them,” said Sterling Anderson, Chief Product Officer and
Co-Founder of Aurora. “Deploying our technology with the Uber
Freight team over this 600-mile trip at the peak of the season is
an outgrowth of our mutual commitment to ensure that Aurora Horizon
can enable carriers of all sizes to safely and efficiently haul
freight 24/7/365 on the Uber Freight network.”
Veritiv Corp. (NYSE: VRTV), a Fortune 500® company, is a leading
distributor of customized packaging solutions across North America.
As an Uber Freight customer, Veritiv has benefited from early
access to the route, using Aurora Horizon to autonomously transport
goods on time to retail, education, and healthcare customers. The
packages, which are hauled over 600 miles between Aurora’s
terminals in Fort Worth and El Paso, complete their journey via
human drivers who handle the first and final leg of customer
deliveries across western Texas and New Mexico.
“Veritiv’s next-generation supply chain strategy is to create
and sustain a competitive advantage in operations with innovative
and efficient technologies,” said Mike Walkenhorst, Senior Vice
President of Global Operations and Developing Businesses for
Veritiv. “This autonomous vehicle pilot aligns with our strategy to
assess new technologies to determine the best fit for our business
and our customers. We are proud to be at the forefront of testing
this technology.”
Unlocking autonomous truck capacity for all carriers on the
Uber Freight network
Aurora’s autonomous technology is being developed to offer
carriers a reliable supply of “drivers.” Testing and validating it
during one of the busiest times of the year highlights its
potential to respond quickly as demand rises and supply chain needs
fluctuate. Autonomous trucks can also help alleviate what is often
considered one of the least safe times to travel each year
according to a report from the National Highway and Transportation
Safety Administration (NHTSA), allowing human drivers to opt for
short-haul trips and stay closer to home.
“Our extensive and efficient digital marketplace is a key
ingredient for autonomous freight deployment,” said Lior Ron, CEO
of Uber Freight. “As the preferred marketplace for autonomous
trucks, we are incredibly excited to partner with these two
companies laser-focused on paving the way for a hybrid network,
together. It’s an honor to get in the trenches with Veritiv’s
commitment to next-generation supply chains and Aurora’s
best-in-class innovation to better understand how autonomous
freight can and will safely become a reality.”
As Aurora works with additional carriers on the Uber Freight
network, the company will incorporate learnings from this pilot
into its subscription service dedicated for carriers and private
fleets. Aurora and Uber Freight aim to unlock autonomous truck
capacity for carriers with Aurora Horizon, which will be deployed
in the coming years and serve carriers across the Uber Freight
platform.
About Aurora
Aurora (Nasdaq: AUR) is delivering the benefits of self-driving
technology safely, quickly, and broadly to make transportation
safer, increasingly accessible, and more reliable and efficient
than ever before. The Aurora Driver is a self-driving system
designed to operate multiple vehicle types, from freight-hauling
semi-trucks to ride-hailing passenger vehicles, and underpins
Aurora Horizon and Aurora Connect, its driver-as-a-service products
for trucking and ride-hailing. Aurora is working with industry
leaders across the transportation ecosystem, including Toyota,
FedEx, Volvo Trucks, PACCAR, Uber, Uber Freight, U.S. Xpress,
Werner, Covenant, Schneider, and Ryder. For Aurora’s latest news,
visit aurora.tech and @aurora_inno on Twitter.
Aurora Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking
Statements
This Press Release contains certain forward-looking statements
within the meaning of the federal securities laws. All statements
contained in this press release that do not relate to matters of
historical fact should be considered forward-looking statements,
including but not limited, to those statements around future
commercial activities and opportunities involving autonomous
vehicle technology, and utilization rates of the Aurora Driver or
other autonomous technology. These statements are based on
management’s current assumptions and are neither promises nor
guarantees, but involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and
other important factors that may cause our actual results,
performance or achievements to be materially different from any
future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by
the forward-looking statements. For factors that could cause actual
results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements in
this press release, please see the risks and uncertainties
identified under the heading “Risk Factors” section of Aurora
Innovation, Inc.’s (“Aurora”) Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the
quarter ended September 30, 2022, filed with the SEC on November 3,
2022, and other documents filed by Aurora from time to time with
the SEC, which are accessible on the SEC website at www.sec.gov.
All forward-looking statements reflect our beliefs and assumptions
only as of the date of this press release. Aurora undertakes no
obligation to update forward-looking statements to reflect future
events or circumstances.
About Veritiv
Veritiv Corporation (NYSE: VRTV), headquartered in Atlanta and a
Fortune 500® company, is a full-service provider of packaging,
JanSan and hygiene products, services and solutions. Additionally,
Veritiv provides print and publishing products, and logistics and
supply chain management solutions. Serving customers in a wide
range of industries both in North America and globally, Veritiv has
distribution centers throughout the U.S. and Mexico, and team
members around the world helping shape the success of its
customers. For more information about Veritiv and its business
segments visit www.veritivcorp.com.
About Uber Freight
Uber Freight is a logistics platform and partner that is
reshaping global logistics for shippers and carriers of all sizes.
Backed by a suite of logistics solutions and services grounded in
innovative marketplace technology, Uber Freight transforms
entrenched practices around pricing and booking freight and brings
reliability, flexibility and transparency to the movement of goods.
With over $17 billion FUM, Uber Freight has built one of the
world’s most comprehensive logistics networks consisting of over
130,000 digitally-enabled carriers and thousands of shippers, from
small businesses to Fortune 500 companies, including AB Inbev,
Nestle, Land O’Lakes, and many more. For more, visit
www.uberfreight.com.
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version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20221202005065/en/
Investor Relations: Stacy Feit ir@aurora.tech (323)
610-0847
Media: Khobi Brooklyn press@aurora.tech (415)
699-3657
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