Aurora and McLane have launched driverless hauls in Texas following a 280,000-mile pilot that achieved 100% on-time performance. McLane — a Berkshire Hathaway subsidiary and one of the largest distributors in America, serving chain restaurants, convenience stores, and mass merchants — will use Aurora’s SAE Level 4 self-driving system to move supplies and perishable food more efficiently for restaurant brands.
The companies launched their supervised autonomy pilot in 2023, which expanded to two round-trips daily between Dallas and Houston, seven days a week. That track record opened the door for driverless approval on the Dallas-Houston corridor, with Aurora planning to expand to new routes between McLane distribution centers across the U.S. Sun Belt by the end of 2026.
The operational model is a hybrid one: the Aurora Driver manages the “middle mile,” while McLane drivers handle local deliveries to customer locations. Aurora said the handoff occurs at its Dallas and Houston terminals, located right off the freeway. Notably, Aurora will still have a “human observer” sitting in the cab — who does not operate the vehicle — per an agreement with truck manufacturer Paccar.
Aurora & Volvo Autonomous Solutions: Dallas to Oklahoma City
Aurora Innovation and Volvo Autonomous Solutions announced a new 200-mile autonomous freight route between Dallas and Oklahoma City, with the program supporting trips five days a week in supervised autonomy using the Volvo VNL Autonomous integrated with the Aurora Driver.
The expansion marks the first time Volvo Autonomous Solutions is hauling freight directly to customer facilities in Oklahoma City. Within weeks, Aurora mapped the Dallas-to-Oklahoma City interstate route and began autonomous hauls, demonstrating the system’s ability to rapidly scale into new markets.
Broader Context
Aurora now has seven customers within its driverless cohort. The company currently operates driverless trucks on routes between Dallas and Houston, Fort Worth and El Paso, El Paso and Phoenix, Fort Worth and Phoenix, and Laredo and Dallas. Aurora recently also started a 1,000-mile autonomous route between Fort Worth, Texas, and Phoenix, Arizona — notable for being beyond what a human trucker could handle without a stop. On the hardware side, Volvo plans to build hundreds of the purpose-built VNL Autonomous trucks in 2027.
