Continental, a German multinational automotive parts manufacturer, and Aurora, a US-based independent vehicle technology company, have partnered to deliver scalable and predictable autonomous driving systems for the commercial freight market. Continental partners with Aurora and aims to transform transportation by improving accessibility, safety, and efficiency in moving goods and people.
Continental, the global technology company, has partnered with Aurora, a leading autonomous vehicle company. Together, they aim to provide the world’s first commercial, scalable autonomous trucking system. The partnership aims to transform modern transportation by enhancing accessibility, safety and efficiency in moving goods and people.
According to Chris Urmson, co-founder and CEO at Aurora, delivering autonomous vehicles at scale can dramatically transform modern transportation. Aurora’s autonomous trucking service, Aurora Horizon, is expected to be scaled up through the partnership with Continental. Therefore, this is expected to improve the efficiency of delivering goods and services worldwide.
The continued strain on the global supply chain has highlighted the potential of autonomous trucking solutions. Autonomously powered trucks can operate around the clock, potentially reducing fuel consumption by around ten per cent. At the same time, compared to a human driver, it is possible to shorten the delivery time up to three times. With more than 1.35 million annual global deaths occur on roadways. Furthermore, autonomous vehicles represent an opportunity to transform travel safety for millions of individuals and the transportation of millions of goods.
Continental’s Autonomous Driving System
Under the partnership, Continental will provide the autonomous driving system kits. The kits will leverage a wide range of Continental’s automotive product portfolio, including sensors, automated driving control units (ADCU), high-performance computers (HPC), telematics units, and more. Aurora’s vehicle manufacturing partners will receive pods that Continental will integrate with these hardware components.
Frank Petznick, the head of the Autonomous Mobility Business Area at Continental, emphasized the commercial benefits of the partnership. He stated that the partnership would elevate the commercial freight market to a new service level. Petznick pointed out that the partnership would be especially beneficial in markets where supply chain constraints are limiting growth.
The partnership aims to deliver safe, reliable, uptime-optimized and commercially scalable autonomous driving systems to customers through the Aurora Horizon platform. Furthermore, Continental and Aurora have agreed upon a hardware-as-a-service business relationship based on mileage driven. The service will offer carriers and fleet operators a cost-effective, dependable, and secure alternative to human driver supply.
Continental and Aurora plan to provide this scalable solution to Aurora’s vehicle manufacturing partners. They expect to produce and assemble Continental parts at our newly built manufacturing facility in New Braunfels, Texas, as well as at other facilities across our global footprint.
