Aurora announces Charger Logistics MOU for up to 500 driverless trucks

The Charger agreement

Charger Logistics operates across the U.S. and Mexico, moving goods for the food and beverage, pharmaceutical, automotive and retail industries, according to Aurora. Under the non-binding MOU, the carrier would purchase up to 500 Aurora Driver-powered trucks, with delivery over 2027 and 2028. Charger plans to deploy them on current and new high-volume routes near the border and throughout the country.

Upon a final agreement, Charger intends to subscribe to Aurora's Driver as a Service model while owning the trucks, Aurora said. The MOU builds on Charger's existing contract signed in July. The memorandum sets out intended purchases, not a firm order.

"Since launching autonomous operations along the Laredo corridor, we've realized immediate operational benefits that point to a clear path to scaling," said Andy Khera, President of Charger Logistics. "Aurora's plans to open long-haul, high-volume routes position us to scale geographically while we integrate autonomy from our TMS to the road, building a resilient and autonomous ecosystem for our customers."

Zac Andreoni, Aurora's vice president of business development, said owning the physical asset is "the logical choice for our customers" because it makes operations more efficient and helps carriers grow.

Aurora said DaaS agreements are central to its plan to scale to 30,000 driverless trucks in 2030. The company expects the model to support a high-margin, capital-efficient and asset-light business. Additional customers are pursuing DaaS contracts to own and operate their own fleets, Aurora said.

Funding the rollout

Aurora's second-quarter shareholder letter reported $2 million in revenue from driverless and vehicle-operator-supervised commercial loads. Cost of revenue totaled $7 million, so the commercial activity cost more to provide than it earned before research, administrative and other expenses. Quarterly operating loss reached $266 million, and net loss totaled $270 million.

Aurora held about $1.2 billion in cash and short-term investments at June 30. Management expected average quarterly cash use of about $190 million to $220 million during 2026, including investment in its scaling plans.

Fleet and production

Aurora expects to exit 2026 with 200 driverless trucks in operation under Transport as a Service agreements, fully allocated, it said at its September analyst day. A Yahoo Finance analysis of Aurora's July results said customers had claimed all of that planned year-end capacity, but that did not mean 200 trucks were already running.

Aurora has 20 or more driverless trucks built and coming into its fleet. With Roush, it is building toward annualized capacity above 1,000 trucks and expects to reach 20 trucks per week in early December. At its September analyst day, Roush was aiming for 20 trucks per week in October.