During the pilot, the delivery of packaging products and goods to Veritiv’s warehouses and retail, healthcare, and education customers is being done autonomously, while the first and last leg of client deliveries in western Texas and New Mexico are handled by human drivers

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Uber Freight and Aurora expand their autonomous truck pilot between Dallas/Fort Worth and El Paso to cater to Veritiv. (Credit: Aurora)

Logistics platform Uber Freight and autonomous vehicle company Aurora announced an expansion of their autonomous truck pilot between Dallas/Fort Worth and El Paso in the US for Veritiv, a packaging solutions distributor.

The expansion across a lane of nearly 965km will serve Veritiv for the 2022 holiday season and beyond.

The partnership will leverage Aurora’s autonomous trucking service Aurora Horizon along with the scale of Uber Freight’s logistics network to help customers in delivering goods reliably and efficiently in any market condition.

In order to meet the demands of Uber Freight’s customers, Aurora Horizon is undertaking weekly hauls of consumer and wholesale goods across Texas with its trucks based on PACCAR’s Peterbilt 579M.

Aurora co-founder and chief product officer Sterling Anderson said: “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.

“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.”

During the pilot, the delivery of packaging products and goods to Veritiv’s warehouses and retail, healthcare, and education customers is being done autonomously.

However, the first and last leg of client deliveries in western Texas and New Mexico are handled by human drivers.

Uber Freight CEO Lior Ron said: “Our extensive and efficient digital marketplace is a key ingredient for autonomous freight deployment. 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 honour 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.”

With the expansion of the pilot programme, the three companies will track and examine data closely on delivery efficiency, transit times, transfer hub operations, autonomous performance and capabilities, and customer satisfaction.

Uber Freight is expected to use the data points to develop a blueprint for the seamless integration and deployment of autonomous trucks across its network in the coming years.

The multiphase commercial autonomous trucking pilot began around this time last year.