Aurora, Continental, and NVIDIA collaborate to revolutionize long-haul transportation with autonomous trucking technology, targeting mass production by 2027.

In a significant move for the autonomous vehicle industry, Aurora, Continental, and NVIDIA have announced a partnership to introduce driverless trucks at scale.

Their joint effort focuses on integrating the next generation NVIDIA DRIVE Thor system on a chip (SoC) into Aurora’s SAE Level 4 autonomous driving system and mass manufacturing it through Continental in 2027.

This collaboration was revealed on January 6, 2025, in Las Vegas, with the three companies aiming to transform long haul transportation by reducing operating costs and enhancing safety on public roads.

The project’s primary objective is to bring thousands of driverless trucks into commercial use, a plan that will build upon Aurora’s proven software platform, the Aurora Driver.

According to press release details, Aurora is finalizing the validation of this self driving system for operations without a human driver on board.

The Aurora Driver uses lidar, radar, and camera sensors, alongside a powerful onboard computer, to navigate at highway speeds.

To further solidify its path to safe deployment, Aurora employs verifiable AI, which allows quick adaptation to new routes while maintaining rigorous safety standards.

Aurora intends to launch its driverless trucking service in Texas in April 2025, marking a significant milestone for the industry.

“Delivering one driverless truck will be monumental. Deploying thousands will change the way we live. NVIDIA is the market leader in accelerated computing, and they’ll strengthen our ecosystem of partners and our ability to deliver safe and reliable driverless trucks to our customers at scale.”

Chris Urmson, CEO and co-founder at Aurora.

The involvement of NVIDIA centers on powering the main computer of the Aurora Driver with a dual NVIDIA DRIVE Thor SoC configuration running DriveOS.

As the partnership matures, Continental and Aurora plan to manufacture these self-driving hardware components on a large scale beginning in 2027, with production samples of the DRIVE Thor expected to become available in the first half of that same year.

Continental’s role is vital in driving this technology forward, as the automotive supplier works on a robust, cost efficient hardware suite designed for high volume production.

The company intends to incorporate redundancies that will allow a secondary system to take over if any part of the primary Aurora Driver computer fails.

This hardware kit, built for reliability and serviceability, will be sent to Aurora’s truck OEM (original equipment manufacturer) partners for integration into commercial trucks.

“Developing, industrializing, and manufacturing powerful self driving hardware at commercial scale requires unique and unparalleled expertise. Our industry first collaboration with Aurora and NVIDIA to deliver driverless trucks positions Continental at the forefront of this cutting edge technology and will drive value to our business.”

Aruna Anand, President & CEO, Automotive, Continental North America.

NVIDIA will provide its automotive grade DRIVE Thor platform, an advanced solution based on the NVIDIA Blackwell architecture, to accelerate critical inference tasks for autonomous vehicles.

By working closely with Aurora and Continental, NVIDIA aims to enhance operational efficiency and road safety through improved perception, path planning, and decision making capabilities.

“The combination of NVIDIA’s automotive grade DRIVE Thor platform with Aurora’s advanced self driving trucking technology and Continental’s manufacturing and integration expertise is set to help drive the future of autonomous trucking, helping make roads safer while driving up operational efficiency.”

Rishi Dhall, Vice President of automotive at NVIDIA.

Beyond the technical aspects, this collaboration reflects each partner’s commitment to developing solutions that are both innovative and practical.

As stated in the report, Continental has prepared an early prototype of the Aurora Driver hardware to be showcased at CES 2025.

The demonstration includes the Volvo VNL Autonomous, an example of a vehicle platform designed for seamless integration of advanced self-driving systems.

An invitation-only media event has been organized for January 7, where industry stakeholders will get a closer look at these emerging technologies.