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☆ Venture Capital Cools on Supply-Chain Tech Startups
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-02 | by ( Liz Young | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

A truck with self-driving technology from Aurora Innovation hauls an Uber Freight trailer. Photo: AURORA/via REUTERSVenture-capital firms that once provided supply-chain technology startups with hefty backing at gaudy valuations have been tightening their pursestrings this year, pushing some of the businesses to slash costs, cut staff and look for other ways to survive in a weak freight market. Thinning investor support contributed to the collapse of digital freight startup Convoy, which ceased operations in October just 18 months after topping out at a $3.8 billion valuation.

Organizations: Aurora Innovation, REUTERS Venture, Convoy

☆ Aurora opens first commercial route for driverless trucks
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-01 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

REUTERS/Tina Bellon/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsNov 1 (Reuters) - Aurora Innovation (AUR.O) on Wednesday opened its first lane for driverless trucks connecting Dallas and Houston, supported by its commercial trucking terminal in Houston, ahead of a launch in 2024. "Bringing our commercial-ready terminals and services online a year ahead of our planned commercial driverless launch between Dallas and Houston enables us to focus next year on integrating our driver-ready trucks into our customers' operations," said Chief Product Officer Sterling Anderson. Aurora said it would operate its terminals day and night, which will support more than 75 commercial loads for pilot customers. Aurora's portfolio of products includes Aurora Driver, its self-driving technology that can be employed across vehicle types, and driverless trucking subscription service Aurora Horizon. Aurora has partnerships with Uber Technologies (UBER.N), Toyota (7203.T), Volvo (VOLVb.ST), and PACCAR (PCAR.O), among others.

Persons: Tina Bellon, Sterling Anderson, Aurora, Zaheer Kachwala, Varun Organizations: REUTERS, Aurora, Wednesday, Dallas, Command, General Motors, California Department of Motor Vehicles, Uber Technologies, Toyota, Volvo, Thomson Locations: Palmer, Dallas , Texas, U.S, Dallas, Houston, Bengaluru

☆ Where Uber's climate and autonomous driving goals will meet in the future
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-24 | by ( Tim Mullaney | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +10 min

"For most of our history, profitable wasn't the first thing that came up when you asked someone about Uber," Khosrowshahi said on Uber's second-quarter conference call Aug. 1. The $1 a ride alone can add up to $4,000 to a driver's annual revenue, the company says. All of them will compete for customers on Uber's platform much as hotels search for business on Expedia.com – a business once run by Khosrowshahi. Indeed, one threat to Uber's current status as a market darling is if AV makers, especially Tesla, decide to compete with Uber directly for riders, Zino said. Khosrowshahi told Sellers that 10-20% of Uber drivers may soon be robots, but said he still thinks more people will be driving for Uber than there are today.

Persons: Angelo Zino, Uber, Savannah, Khosrowshahi, Dara Khosrowshahi, Zino, Scott Devitt, Morgan Stanley's Brian Nowak, undercharging, They've, Devitt, –, Hertz, That's, Tracy Lynn Young, Tesla, they've, Cruise, AVs, Sellers Organizations: GM, General Motors, Ideas, Uber Technologies, Aurora, Wedbush Securities, Hyundai, Tesla, EVgo, EVs, TrueCar.com, Uber, CNBC, Hertz, Waymo, Cruise, Khosrowshahi Locations: California, San Francisco, Pittsburgh, Hyundai Kona, London, U.S, North America, Atlanta

☆ Inside Aurora’s autonomous trucking operation in Texas
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-06 | by ( Andrew Evers | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Trucking is an integral part of the economy, representing over 70 percent of freight moved in the U.S. Yet, it is dogged by driver shortages, safety issues and supply chain challenges. With the Aurora Driver, you'll be able to do that in about 24 hours," says Aurora co-founder and CEO Chris Urmson. The company is training its system with safety drivers on routes between Dallas and Houston, and Dallas and El Paso. CNBC got an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at its self-driving operation outside of Dallas.

Persons: you'll, Chris Urmson, Schneider, Werner Organizations: Pittsburgh, Innovation, Aurora, Starsky Robotics, Freight, FedEx, CNBC Locations: California, Dallas, U.S, Aurora, Texas, Houston, El Paso

☆ Aurora Innovation plans $600 mln private placement, shares fall
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-18 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Companies Aurora Innovation Inc FollowJuly 18 (Reuters) - Self-driving technology firm Aurora Innovation (AUR.O) said on Tuesday it plans to sell $600 million worth of class A common stock in a private placement, sending the company's shares down more than 10% in after-market trading. The company also commenced an underwritten public offering of up to $200 million of its Class A common stock. Aurora said in a regulatory filing it expects to report that it had $785 million of cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments, exclusive of restricted cash, as of June 30. Aurora on Tuesday forecast quarterly cash use of $175 million to $185 million, on average, from the third quarter of 2023 through its planned commercial launch. The company plans to launch its self-driving Aurora Driver platform at the end of 2024.

Persons: Aurora, Savyata Mishra Organizations: Aurora Innovation, Aurora, Thomson Locations: Bengaluru

☆ Continental, Aurora to jointly develop self-driving systems for trucks
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-27 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

April 27 (Reuters) - German automotive parts company Continental AG (CONG.DE) and U.S.-based self-driving technology firm Aurora Innovation said on Thursday they would jointly design and develop autonomous systems for the trucking industry. Investors and industry executives have been concerned about heavy investments going into self-driving technology and the protracted timelines to develop it. Continental, which will manage the lifecycle of the hardware kits it supplies for the Aurora Driver technology platform, said it expects production to begin in 2027. The companies also said Aurora Horizon is expected to be launched next year. The autonomous freight truck subscription service is based on the technology that Continental will help develop and build.

☆ US union opposes driverless trucks waiver for Waymo, Aurora
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-11 | by ( David Shepardson | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Aurora and Waymo instead want to use warning beacons mounted on the truck cab to avoid needing human drivers. Waymo and Aurora say that without an exemption driverless trucks would need a human on board, which would "undermine the efficiency potential of autonomous CMVs." Waymo responded that the "exemption we put forward would permit compliant autonomous trucking operations while maintaining a high standard of safety." In the joint filing, Aurora said it maintains 28 Class 8 self-driving trucks that run on public roads, primarily in Texas, while Waymo listed 48 Class 8 trucks. Legislation to speed the deployment of self-driving vehicles and ease hurdles has been stalled for more than five years in Congress.

☆ Companies That Went Public via SPACs Log Billions of Dollars in Goodwill Write-Downs
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-07 | by ( Mark Maurer | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +1 min

Cryptocurrency platform Bakkt Holdings, which listed on the New York Stock Exchange in October 2021 after merging with a special-purpose acquisition company, recorded a $1.51 billion pretax goodwill impairment for the following year. Companies that went public through mergers with special-purpose acquisition companies in recent years booked billions of dollars in goodwill write-downs in 2022, reflecting in part a reckoning of the heady premiums paid to secure deals during the SPAC boom. Some of the biggest goodwill impairments in 2022 came from SPAC-backed companies like cryptocurrency platform Bakkt Holdings Inc., business-services provider Advantage Solutions Inc., 3-D printing firm Fathom Digital Manufacturing Corp., self-driving vehicle startup Aurora Innovation Inc. and now-bankrupt bitcoin miner Core Scientific Inc., according to financial and risk advisory firm Kroll LLC. Each of these five companies’ pretax impairments exceeded $1 billion last year.

☆ Self-driving tech firm Aurora names Ossa Fisher as president
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-30 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Jan 30 (Reuters) - Aurora Innovation Inc (AUR.O) on Monday named Ossa Fisher as president to focus on scaling operations at the self-driving technology company ahead of its commercial launch in 2024. Fisher is expected to begin at the new role in February and joins Aurora from education tech firm Istation, where she had served as president and chief operating officer since 2019. Last month, Aurora and Uber Technologies Inc (UBER.N) said they will expand their driverless pilot program in Texas to meet increased delivery demand during the holidays. Aurora's shares, which lost nearly 90% of their value last year, were down about 2% in extended trading. Reporting by Manya Saini in Bengaluru; Editing by Devika SyamnathOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Uber, Aurora to expand self-driving truck ops in Texas to meet holiday rush
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-02 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Dec 2 (Reuters) - Uber Technologies Inc (UBER.N) and self-driving technology company Aurora Innovation Inc (AUR.O) will expand their driverless pilot program in Texas to meet increased delivery demand during the holidays. Uber Freight is a platform which connects shippers who need goods moved with available truck drivers. The companies launched their pilot program about a year ago to autonomously transport goods between Dallas and Houston. "We're crafting Aurora Horizon to help carriers of all sizes alleviate some of the supply-chain pressures that typically accompany (holiday season)," Aurora co-founder Sterling Anderson said. Aurora Innovation, which also counts FedEx Corp (FDX.N) and Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T) as partners, looks to launch the Aurora Driver self-driving platform at the end of 2024.

☆ Aurora says it has enough cash to sustain through mid-2024
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-02 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Nov 2 (Reuters) - Aurora Innovation Inc (AUR.O) has enough cash to sustain its operations through mid-2024, the company said on Wednesday, even as it grapples with an uncertain market for autonomous driving. Shares of the company jumped 8% to $2.03 in extended trading after Aurora said it had over $1.2 billion in cash and short-term investments, which would also be used to develop its self-driving technology. Aurora said that it had over $1.2 billion in cash and short-term investments, which it expects to fund operations through mid-2024 and enable development of the Aurora Driver technology. The company expects to launch Aurora Driver platform at the end of 2024. The company has seen its market value plunge to $2.5 billion from $12.5 billion last November, when it went public.

☆ Analysis: Ford, VW pop the automated-vehicle bubble with Argo AI exit
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-26 | by ( Paul Lienert | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

DETROIT, Oct 26 (Reuters) - The road map to fully self-driving vehicles is being rewritten once again, this time by Ford Motor Co (F.N) and Volkswagen AG (VOWG_p.DE). VW also bought Argo shares from Ford for $500 million. Ford previously injected $1 billion into Argo when it bought control of the company in 2017. Before it acquired the stake in Argo, VW flirted with at least two other U.S.-based self-driving startups: Alphabet Inc's (GOOGL.O) Waymo and Aurora Innovation (AUR.O). VW reportedly considered a $13.7 billion investment in 2018 in Waymo for a 10% stake that would have valued Waymo at $137 billion.

☆ IKEA teams with self-driving truck startup Kodiak Robotics to test deliveries in Texas
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-18 | by ( John Rosevear | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Self-driving truck startup Kodiak Robotics said that it has begun a pilot program with IKEA in Texas. Kodiak's CEO, Don Burnette, said that he isn't looking to put truck drivers out of business – in fact, he's aiming to make their lives easier. Texas has become a hotbed for self-driving truck testing, in part because of favorable regulations -- and also because the long highway stretches between its cities are ideal for automation. Self-driving truck startup Aurora Innovation has also been testing trucks in Texas. Another startup, TuSimple , has been testing its self-driving semitrucks in Arizona and is planning to expand to Texas next year.

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