Toyota And Aurora Start Autonomous Taxi Trial, Immediately Launched On The Highway

JAKARTA - Toyota Motor Japan and Aurora Innovation Inc (AUR.O), a US developer of automated driving systems, have begun testing an autonomous ride-hailing fleet in Texas. In this trial there were , two safety operators but no passengers on board, Tuesday, March 22.

The Toyota Sienna minivan, equipped with the Aurora self-driving system, will be tested on highways and suburban roads in the Dallas-Fort-Worth area. This operation includes a trip to the airport.

Autonomous vehicle startups are under pressure to generate meaningful revenue from their billions of dollars in engineering investments. However, upgrading fleet capabilities is a challenge as technological hurdles remain.

"The route demonstrates Aurora's ability to operate safely at highway speeds. This is a key technical differentiator that allows it to prioritize popular and profitable line travel," the US company said in a statement.

Aurora's competitor Waymo has started charging rental rates for its self-driving minivan passengers for travel in the confined suburbs of Phoenix. However airport pick-up line is not available.

Waymo said Monday, March 21, that it was ready to deploy driverless vehicles in the densely populated city of San Francisco. Only they have not provided a time frame for the launch.

Aurora, led by Chris Urmson, the former head of Google's self-driving car project that is now Waymo, said it plans to continue adding vehicles to their fleet. This is done in preparation for commercial launches on ride-hailing networks such as Uber.

Aurora itself bought Uber's autonomous vehicle unit ATGin 2020, while Uber, the world's premier ride-hailing giant, has acquired a 26% stake in Aurora.