Driverless vehicle developer Aurora Innovation Inc. is putting a human back in front of the wheel of big rigs operating in Texas, reve
rsing course less than three weeks after the company began commercial autonomous service there.
The decision to move an “observer” from the rear of the cabin into the driver’s seat was made at the request of PACCAR Inc., which manufac
tured the trucks, Aurora Chief Executive Officer Chris Urmson said Friday in a p
ost on the company’s website. The trucks will still be operated by the Aurora Driver
autonomous system, but the person will be able to intervene if needed.
“We are confident this is not required to operate the truck safely based on the exhaustive testing (covering nearly 10,000 requirem
ents and 2.7 million tests) and analysis that populates our safety case,” Urmson wrote
of having a human in the front seat. “PACCAR is a long-time partner and, after much c
onsideration, we respected their request.”
Aurora said on May 1 that it began commercial trucking services in Texas with two fully driverless vehicles, both built by PACCAR. It was
Aurora’s first commercial self-driving service on public roads. The company plans to exp
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and to El Paso, Texas, and Phoenix by the end of the year.
Friday’s post suggests the companies disagreed about the need for a human
to safeguard against issues that might arise in the early days of the commercial dri
verless service. PACCAR requested the change because of certain prototype parts in the trucks, Urmson said.
A PACCAR spokesman did not return a request seeking comment.
A short seller report by Bleecker Street Research on May 14 said Aurora had not yet obtained PACCAR’s permission to comme
rcialize its trucks with autonomous driving and that heavy truck manufacturer thinks it will take longer for the technology to be ready.