Aurora Innovation NASDAQ: AUR reported third-quarter revenue of $3 million as it continued to expand driverless and vehicle operator-supervised commercial freight operations, while outlining a manufacturing ramp that management said was delayed by about six weeks because of early production issues.
Chief Executive Officer Chris Urmson said Aurora has reached an “inflection point” toward commercial scale, with more than 20 driverless trucks built and entering its fleet. The company expects to reach a production rate of 20 trucks per week in early December after addressing constraints involving material availability, component quality and end-of-line testing.
“With weekly output steadily improving, we now expect to achieve our targeted production rate of 20 trucks per week in early December,” Urmson said. He added that Roush, Aurora’s vehicle-upfitting partner, is working with the company to establish annualized production capability exceeding 1,000 trucks.
Production Ramp Delayed, Fleet Targets Maintained
Aurora said initial production volumes were constrained by availability of materials, component-quality issues and problems identified during final testing. Urmson said the company worked to address those bottlenecks, including sourcing alternative suppliers in some cases.
Chief Financial Officer David Maday said the manufacturing issues did not materially affect expected gross margins because they were not primarily related to component pricing. He said Aurora changed suppliers for certain complex components, including wire harnessing, to improve quality and reliability, and that some changes were cost-neutral or could create savings by reducing rework.
Maday said Aurora’s supply of Aurora Driver hardware kits from Fabrinet was pacing ahead of truck production. He later corrected a statement regarding production operations, clarifying that the company was beginning a second shift rather than establishing a second production line.
Despite the slower ramp, Aurora expects to exceed 200 driverless trucks by the end of February and remains on track to exit 2027 with more than 1,000 driverless trucks in operation. The company said its first 200 trucks are fully contracted and its planned test fleet of approximately 500 trucks is nearly fully allocated.
Charger Agreement and OEM Deployment Plans
Aurora announced that Charger Logistics selected the company to scale an autonomous fleet through a memorandum of understanding covering 500 driverless-service trucks. Charger plans to use the Aurora Driver initially on the Dallas-to-Laredo freight route, with truck deliveries expected in 2027 and 2028.
Urmson said the agreement could represent a multiyear revenue stream worth hundreds of millions of dollars. Aurora has announced memorandums of understanding covering 1,000 Driver as a Service trucks across 2027 and 2028, management said.
Maday said Aurora expects its memorandums of understanding to convert into definitive agreements, noting that major terms such as pricing, volume and allocation have been aligned. Remaining discussions involve operational matters including truck service, end-of-life disposal and second-life use of vehicles.
The company said Volvo Autonomous Solutions plans to launch trucks equipped with the Aurora Driver in the first quarter of 2027 and intends to deploy more than 300 driverless trucks that year, before full industrial production begins in 2028. Aurora also said it is continuing work to integrate its technology into PACCAR trucks.
Management reiterated its objective to exit 2030 with more than 30,000 trucks on the road. Maday noted that the figure is cumulative and represents a relatively small portion of an industry that builds roughly 250,000 trucks annually.
Expanded Operating Capabilities and Regulatory Progress
Aurora said it is expanding capabilities intended to help autonomous trucks operate within existing freight networks. In November, the Aurora Driver is expected to begin operating directly to customer sites for several driverless customers, including navigating security checkpoints, according to Urmson.
The company also said its trucks can now traverse weigh stations autonomously, allowing the system to determine whether a station is open, navigate to an available scale lane and adapt to different scale configurations. Urmson said the capability could reduce operational complexity for customers that have historically relied on voluntary enhanced pre-trip inspections to bypass weigh stations.
Earlier in the month, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration granted a five-year exemption allowing driverless trucks to use cab-mounted warning beacons instead of traditional roadside warning devices that are manually placed. Aurora said it demonstrated that its warning-beacon technology would likely provide safety equivalent to or greater than legacy requirements.
Urmson said Aurora continues to see supportive engagement from the executive branch, administration and Congress regarding autonomous-vehicle policy. He said legislation related to the BUILD America 250 Act and surface transportation reauthorization had bipartisan backing, though he said the outlook would depend on broader legislative developments.
Financial Results and Cash Outlook
Aurora reported a third-quarter operating loss of $257 million, including $54 million in stock-based compensation. Excluding stock-based compensation, research and development expense was $160 million, selling, general and administrative expense was $38 million, and cost of revenue was $8 million.
The company used about $170 million in operating cash during the quarter and spent $36 million on capital expenditures. It expects cash use of approximately $250 million in the fourth quarter as it ramps production of its driverless fleet.
Maday said most of the expected fourth-quarter increase in cash use reflects fleet expansion, including the purchase of hardware kits and components, additional production capacity and Roush manufacturing activity. He said the company did not expect significant changes to its structural research and development cost base, although general and administrative spending could rise modestly as Aurora supports hundreds of deployed trucks.
During the quarter, Aurora issued 6 million Class A shares through its at-the-market program for net proceeds of $41 million, using $23 million of those proceeds to fund tax liabilities tied to employee restricted stock-unit vesting. The company ended the period with more than $1 billion in cash and short-term investments.
Reflecting the production ramp delay, Aurora reduced its 2026 revenue outlook to approximately $9 million, while saying the figure would still represent substantial year-over-year growth.
About Aurora Innovation (NASDAQ:AUR)
Aurora Innovation, Inc develops autonomous driving technology for commercial trucks and passenger vehicles. Its core product, the Aurora Driver, combines artificial intelligence, sensors, mapping, and vehicle-control software to enable vehicles to perceive their surroundings, plan routes, and operate with limited or no human intervention.
The company focuses initially on autonomous trucking and freight transportation, while also developing technology for passenger mobility applications.
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