Aurora Innovation (NASDAQ:AUR) executives used the company’s first-quarter 2026 business review call to outline preparations for a planned second-quarter launch of a new driverless truck fleet and to reiterate full-year financial expectations, while highlighting expanding routes, new customer activity, and state-level regulatory developments.
Scaling plans and new commercial hardware
Co-founder and CEO Chris Urmson told investors that “2026 is the year Aurora begins to scale,” describing the first part of the year as “a period of disciplined transition” ahead of what he framed as an inflection point. Aurora is preparing to deploy its second-generation commercial hardware kit on a new fleet of driverless trucks, which Urmson said is intended to help the company “exit the year with over 200 driverless trucks in operation across the Sun Belt” and support scaling in 2027 and beyond.
According to Urmson, the second-generation kit is designed for “1 million miles of operation” and includes enhanced sensor cleaning capabilities. He also pointed to performance upgrades, including “a more efficient computer” and “an extended 1-kilometer range for FirstLight,” Aurora’s proprietary long-range FMCW lidar. He said Aurora expects the kit to drive “a 50-plus % reduction in Aurora Driver hardware costs,” which management described as important to its gross margin goals.
Commercial momentum and customer activity
Urmson said Aurora is seeing “significant commercial momentum,” including an expansion of its relationship with Hirschbach. In addition to prior Transportation-as-a-Service (TaaS) commitments, Aurora recently announced Hirschbach “selected Aurora to scale their autonomous fleet with intent to own and operate 500 trucks through our Driver-as-a-Service business model.” Aurora expects to finalize a definitive agreement later this year, and Urmson described it as a potential multi-year revenue stream “in the hundreds of millions of dollars,” with truck delivery “slated to begin in 2027.”
In the Q&A, Urmson said Aurora expects the Hirschbach MOU to be “a 500 truck deal over 2027 and 2028,” and that it could translate into “hundreds of millions of miles and hundreds of millions of dollars of revenue.” He added that Aurora expects to “get to closure on that this year,” while noting the company could not share additional details about what remains to convert the MOU into a definitive agreement.
Urmson also told analysts the company continues to see customer interest expand as Aurora makes progress. “Each time we kind of check off progress, we see it become more real in the eyes of customers,” he said, adding the company has “an exciting funnel.” CFO David Maday echoed that sentiment, saying inbound interest has increased “dramatically” over the last six months.
On pricing, Urmson said Aurora could not discuss specifics due to competitive sensitivities, characterizing customer discussions as negotiations. Maday said customers have provided “really good and direct feedback,” and argued that Aurora’s value proposition has resonated. He cited “growing cost of drivers” and said fuel costs are “really high right now,” adding that Aurora is “providing a 15% reduction on that,” which he said equates to about “$0.15-$0.16 per mile” in the current market.
Route expansion, utilization, and operational milestones
Urmson said Aurora’s network now covers “12 distinct routes.” He noted that by the end of March the company validated driverless operations on the bi-directional Dallas-to-Laredo route within six weeks of starting supervised autonomous runs. Aurora also opened new bi-directional routes between Dallas and Oklahoma City, and Urmson said that, in collaboration with Volvo Autonomous Solutions, Aurora has started supervised autonomous deliveries on that route for one of Volvo’s “key customers.”
Urmson said Aurora has expanded its “driverless cohort to seven customers,” including transitioning commercial loads with McLane to driverless operations. He also said the company is enhancing its driverless network for “real-time dynamic rerouting,” aiming to improve operational flexibility for higher-volume service.
In April, Urmson said the Aurora Driver surpassed 370,000 driverless miles with “100% on-time performance” and “zero Aurora Driver-attributed collisions.” He said that performance was driven by “very strong utilization with a leaner active fleet,” adding that the driverless trucks operating for Werner are averaging “4,000+ miles per week,” which he translated to an “annual run rate of 225,000+ miles per truck.” Maday later said utilization will vary by customer, but reiterated confidence in “double utilization,” and pointed to a “200-250 thousand mile range” as a target he said customers can achieve.
Urmson said Aurora expects to generate a majority of its 2026 revenue through operations between customer facilities, and discussed preparations for endpoint operations, including in-yard autonomous work at customer sites. Aurora also recently began supervised testing of way station navigation and on-route fueling at truck stops, which Urmson described as environments requiring advanced low-speed capabilities.
Manufacturing and supply chain roadmap
Urmson said Aurora is “closing in on the 2Q launch” of its second-generation hardware kit on a new fleet of trucks based on the International LT series, which he said will enable driverless operations “without an observer.” He said the company expects this to set a foundation for 2027, when it plans to launch its Driver-as-a-Service (DaaS) model.
On fleet growth, Urmson clarified that the “200 trucks” goal refers to driverless trucks operating by year-end. “Today, we’re running about a handful of them,” he said. He added that Aurora currently owns 25 of the vehicles expected to be part of the 200-truck driverless cohort, and said those trucks are in “various stages of upfit and preparation.” Urmson also said Aurora has “commitment and order slots for the entire 200 trucks,” stating there is “no question about the truck availability,” with timing driven by upfit sequencing and capacity planning.
Discussing production, Urmson said Aurora is preparing upfitter Roush for scaled output, with scaling beginning in the third quarter toward a “20 trucks per week” production rate. He later said Aurora is initially establishing capacity at Roush to produce 1,000 trucks per year, with potential to expand capacity.
Looking beyond the second-generation kit, Urmson said Aurora has made progress on a third-generation commercial hardware kit that will be manufactured by Aumovio. He said initial units are already being tested, and described work with Aumovio and NVIDIA to develop a “Super Thor” compute configuration integrating two NVIDIA DRIVE Thor systems-on-chip into a unified platform. Urmson said Aumovio broke ground in March on an expansion of its New Braunfels, Texas facility to produce third-generation kits “intended to supply tens of thousands of trucks,” with construction expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2027 and start of production “on track to begin in the 2nd half of 2027.”
Urmson added that Volvo plans to build “hundreds” of Volvo VNL autonomous trucks in 2027 and has completed several Aurora Driver-powered trucks on a pilot line. He also said PACCAR and Aurora are “jointly defining the path to scale” with third-generation hardware integrated with PACCAR’s future autonomy-enabled platform, though he declined to provide timing details.
On supply chain and quality, Urmson said Aurora has moved from in-house sourced hardware on early deployments to using Fabrinet for the second-generation hardware, and plans to lean on Aumovio’s scale automotive supplier capabilities for third-generation production. He also emphasized the company’s focus on testing and validation and said Aurora remains a “deep believer in verifiable AI,” arguing that relying solely on opaque model outputs “just doesn’t make sense” for autonomous trucks.
Financial results and 2026 outlook
CFO David Maday reported first-quarter 2026 revenue of $1 million, generated across driverless and supervised commercial loads. He said revenue rose 10% sequentially from the fourth quarter of 2025, driven by a record number of commercial miles during the quarter despite the company using a shared fleet for route development and second-generation kit validation.
Maday said first-quarter operating loss, including stock-based compensation, was $244 million. Excluding $46 million in stock-based compensation, he reported:
- R&D expense of $159 million
- SG&A expense of $34 million
- Cost of revenue of $6 million
Aurora used about $159 million in operating cash in the quarter, with capital expenditures of $25 million. Maday said cash spend was below the company’s externally communicated quarterly average target, but he expects second-quarter cash spend to run above the target range due to the timing of a cash bonus payout, which Aurora plans to fund with its at-the-market (ATM) program.
The company ended the quarter with “nearly $1.3 billion” of liquidity in cash and investments. Maday said Aurora generated $14 million of net proceeds from Class A stock issuance through the ATM program during the quarter, which he said was used to fund tax liabilities associated with vesting employee restricted stock units.
For 2026, Maday reiterated revenue guidance of $14 million to $16 million, describing it as up “400% year-over-year at the midpoint.” He said revenue will be “back-end loaded,” with the fourth quarter expected to contribute more than half of full-year revenue as Aurora scales driverless operations after the new fleet launch. He also said Aurora anticipates exiting the year with more than 200 driverless trucks in operation, translating to approximately $80 million of TaaS revenue on a run-rate basis.
Maday maintained expectations for quarterly cash use of about $190 million to $220 million on average in 2026, including about $150 million of full-year capex tied primarily to capacity plans. He said Aurora expects 2026 to be peak capex and that capital spending should decline “significantly” in 2027 as the company transitions toward DaaS and a “Hardware as a Service structure with Aumovio.”
In response to analyst questions, Maday said the company still believes it has sufficient liquidity to reach positive free cash flow in 2028. He also reiterated that gross profit breakeven remains a target and discussed economics under TaaS versus DaaS. Maday referenced earlier indicative pricing of “anywhere from $1.50 to $2 a mile for TaaS plus fuel surcharge,” and said DaaS indicative pricing is “about $0.85.” He also said that for gross margin breakeven under the current TaaS model, Aurora is targeting cost of goods sold of roughly $2 per mile, noting that TaaS costs include items such as trucks, hardware financing, terminals, and fuel.
On regulatory expansion, Urmson highlighted what he called landmark progress in California, saying the state is “joining the vast majority of states in enabling autonomous trucking.” He said Aurora now projects a serviceable addressable market of 60 billion vehicle miles traveled by 2028. However, he said the company does not yet have a set timeline for starting operations in California and will need to complete the permitting process.
About Aurora Innovation (NASDAQ:AUR)
Aurora Innovation, Inc is a technology company specializing in the development of self-driving vehicle systems for both passenger and commercial applications. Headquartered in Mountain View, California, Aurora has built an end-to-end platform—known as the Aurora Driver—that integrates proprietary software, machine learning algorithms and a suite of sensors (LiDAR, radar and cameras) to enable vehicles to operate safely and efficiently in diverse driving environments.
The company’s core business revolves around designing, testing and deploying its autonomy stack on vehicles from established automotive and transportation partners.
