Continental and Aurora complete the world's first scalable autonomous trucking system design.

Hanover, Germany- Continental AG., and Aurora Innovation have achieved a significant milestone in their exclusive partnership aimed at commercializing autonomous trucks on a large scale. The companies have successfully finalized the design and architecture of the future fallback system and hardware for the Aurora Driver, an SAE Level 4 autonomous driving system. Continental plans to commence production of this groundbreaking system in 2027, marking a crucial step in their collaboration initiated less than a year ago.

The finalized hardware design, considered the world's first serviceable automotive-grade autonomous system at scale, is a result of the joint effort to develop reliable, serviceable, and cost-efficient autonomous hardware kits for mass production. This collaboration positions Aurora to deploy autonomous trucks at scale following its initial driverless launch anticipated at the end of 2024. Leveraging Continental's automotive development and manufacturing expertise, the future Aurora Driver aims to provide customer value over one million miles.

Philipp von Hirschheydt, Executive Board member for the Automotive Group Sector at Continental, said the transformative potential of autonomous mobility technologies, stating, “Technologies for autonomous mobility present the biggest opportunity to transform driving behavior since the creation of the automobile.”

The partnership also entails the development of an industrialized fallback system, crucial for the safe operation of autonomous vehicles without human drivers. This system, expected to go into production in 2027, incorporates redundancies to ensure operational continuity in the rare event of a component or sensor failure. The dual engineering approach adopted by Aurora and Continental aims to minimize single points of failure, enhancing overall safety.

Chris Urmson, Co-Founder and CEO at Aurora, highlighted the importance of building a strong ecosystem of partners for the successful market deployment of autonomous technology. He expressed confidence in the completed design of the future hardware, seeing it as a significant step toward establishing compelling unit economics for the Aurora Driver and building a sustainable long-term business.

Continental and Aurora have outlined a comprehensive four-year partnership roadmap to bring thousands of autonomous trucks to commercialization:

2023 – Blueprint and Design: Detailed system architecture, key requirements, and technical specifications for the Aurora Driver hardware and fallback system have been aligned.

2024-2025 – Build and Test: Continental will manufacture initial hardware versions for testing across its global facilities, including a new facility in New Braunfels, Texas, USA.

2026-2027 – Finalization, Start of Production, and Integration: Continental will industrialize and validate the Aurora Driver hardware and fallback system before commencing production. The hardware will be shipped to Aurora’s truck manufacturing partners for integration into autonomous-ready vehicles.

2027 and beyond – Deployment at Scale: Thousands of trucks integrated with the Aurora Driver are poised to autonomously transport freight across the U.S.

Von Hirschheydt affirmed the success of the exclusive partnership with Aurora, highlighting Continental's unique position as the only tier-one supplier committed to industrializing autonomous hardware kits at scale. This commitment positions the company at the forefront of capitalizing on groundbreaking autonomous technology.