Functional Safety Manager

The major autonomous news no one is talking about. Both Aurora Innovation and PlusAI have made under-the-radar announcements that signal a massive game-changer for trucking is coming soon. March 6, 2026 3 min to read And it was, by any standard, a modest one - a fairly standard update on the company's recent activities. Most of the release looked at the company's expanding operations. Aurora is now running 10 driverless routes across the Southwestern United States. It is working closely with International to have its next-generation autonomous control system integrated into LT Series tractors in the second quarter. And it continues to scale toward producing more than 200 autonomous trucks by the end of the year. But the real news - potentially industry-rattling news, in my opinion - was buried in the middle section of the press release. Namely, the fact that Aurora is now driving 1,000 autonomous miles during a single autonomous run. And it is doing so (legally) beyond Hours of Service regulations that limit human drivers to 10 hours on duty. And Aurora isn't the only wasn't the only one with huge, under-the-radar autonomous news. On March 3, PlusAI announced the launch of its SuperDrive 6.0 autonomous control system. The company called SuperDrive 6.0 a "major advancement" of autonomous vehicle control. It noted that the control system will allow for safe navigation of construction zones. It will also allow for night-time operation - a move the company noted "could potentially more than double the productivity of a truck compared with typical daytime operations." Autonomous game-changer. And there it is, folks: The first tangible evidence that autonomous trucks are about to upend everything in this industry. Ad Loading... These are press releases/headlines I have literally waiting on for over a decade now. Ever since I watched in wonder, way back in 2015, as the first Freightliner Inspiration Truck confidently cruised across Hoover Dam as the dying desert sun sank into the western horizon. The next day, Freightliner took Truckinginfo for a drive in their new truck. And behind the wheel of the Inspiration Truck on a jam-packed stretch of I-15 north of Las Vegas, it was apparent to me that this already worked well right off the box. It was going to need some work, of course. But it was evident to me, even then, that autonomous technology would massively disrupt and transform trucking in my lifetime. I often tell people that autonomous technology is largely a "party trick" for passenger cars. But there is a very real, extremely solid business case for self-driving vehicles in the commercial vehicle market. And now, Aurora and PlusAI are giving the world a little glimpse of what that business case is. In a nutshell, the company is proving that fleets can double the use of a tractor-trailer while slashing operating costs by using autonomous technology. Ad Loading... 24/7 freight operations. Last year, I interviewed Nils Jaeger, president of Volvo Autonomous Solutions, on this very topic. He told me that in theory, autonomous trucks can operate around the clock. The only limiting factors in daily operations are refueling and safety/payload inspections. But once self-driving trucks were in regular use, Jaeger thinks running 22 hours a day - again, stopping only for fuel and inspections - will be commonplace. Aurora didn't include any details on its 1,000-mile run: average speed or time in transit, for example. I have seen some speculative news reports that it takes approximately 15 hours for Aurora to make the run. Which works out to an average speed of about 65 mph. Which sounds about right. It would take a human driver the better part of two days to cover that distance. So, Truckinginfo is talking about delivery times halved. Asset use doubled. Optimal fuel economy. A consistent, unrelenting focus on safety. Minimal powertrain wear. And, oh yeah - truck drivers (consistently one of the top three operating costs for fleets) completely removed from the equation. Ad Loading... Truckinginfo is not there yet of course. But, as these two very important press releases from Aurora and PlusAI demonstrate, Truckinginfo is closing in on the dawn of the Autonomous Age with startling speed.

PlusAI unveils SuperDrive 6.0 to speed driverless truck deployment. Autonomous trucking developer PlusAI has launched the latest version of its virtual driver software, SuperDrive 6.0, as the company pushes toward the large-scale commercialization of driverless freight operations. The Silicon Valley-based company says the new software release is designed to accelerate deployment of autonomous trucks by improving system reliability, operational efficiency, and readiness for factory-built vehicles. SuperDrive is PlusAI's Level 4 autonomous driving platform for heavy-duty trucks. The system combines cameras, radar, lidar, and artificial-intelligence software to allow trucks to operate without human drivers under certain conditions. The new SuperDrive 6.0 version is part of the company's push to prepare autonomous trucks for commercial fleets. PlusAI says the platform has been trained on more than 6 million real-world miles of driving data and augmented with simulation to improve performance in complex scenarios. "Safety and system maturity are foundational requirements for deploying factory-built autonomous trucks at scale," said David Liu, CEO and co-founder of PlusAI. "We continue to make consistent progress as we move toward commercialization." Unlike some autonomy developers that retrofit existing trucks, PlusAI's strategy centers on factory-integrated systems developed in partnership with major truck manufacturers. Global OEM partners including brands within the Traton Group, Hyundai Motor, and Iveco plan to integrate the SuperDrive system directly into production trucks. The company is targeting a commercial launch of factory-built autonomous trucks beginning in 2027, initially focusing on major freight corridors in the United States before expanding to additional regions. PlusAI says the new software release is intended to support that rollout by enabling fleets to scale autonomous freight operations more efficiently while maintaining safety and operational performance. trucknews.com is the trucking industry's leading information source, delivering vital insights to fleet executives, operations teams, maintenance personnel, owner-operators, and more. Readers turn to our experienced journalists for award-winning trucking industry news, trends, technical advances, equipment maintenance techniques, and business practices alike. Have your say This is a moderated forum. Comments will no longer be published unless they are accompanied by a first and last name and a verifiable email address. (Today's Trucking will not publish or share the email address.) Profane language and content deemed to be libelous, racist, or threatening in nature will not be published under any circumstances.