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Download the Complete Report Here Key Takeaways: 1H26 marks an important step in ENRD’s transition from contracted demand toward scaled deployment, with signed capacity beginning to convert into a materially faster revenue growth profile in 2H26. Revenue increased 26% y/y on a constant-currency basis to approximately $27 million from $21 million in 1H25, driven by additional capacity with existing customers and new deployments across the network. Reported revenue increased ~22% y/y to SEK263.5 million from SEK216.5 million, with transport services contributing SEK246.6 million versus SEK201.0 million and rental revenue increasing to SEK16.9 million from SEK15.5 million. The forward setup is considerably stronger than the 1H26 growth rate, with 2H26 constant-currency revenue guided to $39-$42 million, up 60%-73% y/y from $24 million in 2H25. The step-up is expected to be driven primarily by the Amazon ramp, additional U.S. and European deployments and the initial Tesla Semi rollout, suggesting the principal near-term growth constraint is shifting toward deployment capacity and execution as signed demand moves into operations. A meaningful portion of near-term growth has already moved from the JBP funnel into contracted business awaiting deployment. ENRD continues to disclose more than $800 million of potential ARR through Joint Business Plans, while the customer base has expanded to 32 customers across seven countries and cumulative operating activity now exceeds 560,000 shipments. The $800 million+ JBP figure remains non-binding, but management provided an important distinction around the December revenue ramp: the absolute majority of capacity supporting the targeted $85-$95 million December 2026 annualized revenue run-rate has already moved from JBP into signed contracts, leaving vehicle deployment and capacity activation as the primary remaining steps before revenue recognition. We believe this is an important progression because the near-term execution focus is now increasingly on converting contracted capacity into deployed revenue at higher utilization and improving margins, rather than proving underlying customer demand. Amazon is becoming both a meaningful deployment driver and a strong validation point for ENRD’s enterprise customer-acquisition model. Following an initial pilot, ENRD secured a deployment of 75 electric heavy-duty trucks across five U.S. locations in Amazon’s middle-mile network, with the fleet integrated into Amazon Relay and execution managed through Saga AI; initial deployments are already live and the majority of the first wave is expected to be operational before year end 2026. The commercial organization has also been scaled over the last 6 to 8 months, contributing to an approximately 3x increase in the sales pipeline, while deployment lead times have improved over the past 12-18 months as vehicle availability, charging infrastructure and ENRD’s operating footprint expanded. For a high-touch enterprise model with relatively long initial sales cycles, reference deployments such as Amazon should help shorten customer diligence and support expansion across additional lanes and geographies. The recently announced 500-truck Tesla Semi program materially changes ENRD’s fleet scaling equation by adding significant deployment capacity while separating a substantial portion of fleet growth from equity funding. ENRD currently operates approximately 250 vehicles and expects Amazon, other signed deployments and the initial Tesla rollout to take the fleet to just under 400 by year end 2026, implying roughly 60% growth from the current base. The 500 Tesla Semi program alone would triple the current fleet toward approximately 750 vehicles, with the majority targeted to be operational before year end 2027. The program should also support higher revenue per truck from the current roughly $300,000 annual level, with the Semi’s specifications opening additional lanes and distances and management expecting a positive contribution-margin impact as utilization increases. The vehicles will be financed through third-party solutions rather than equity, allowing ENRD to match asset-backed leverage directly against revenue-generating capacity and accelerate conversion of its $800 million+ JBP opportunity into operating revenue without incremental equity dilution. Growing network scale is building the conditions for improved FCaaS economics while creating the data and operating density required for autonomous commercialization. ENRD has now completed more than 18.5 million electric miles and 560,000 shipments across 32 customers in seven countries, providing Saga AI with a larger data set to optimize routing, charging and vehicle utilization. That same network has generated more than 5,400 driverless hours in contracted customer operations, up 64% over the preceding six months across six autonomous deployments, while management estimates that approximately 80% of customer freight demand already captured on the platform is suitable for automation over the medium term. This creates a differentiated commercialization pathway: ENRD can progressively introduce autonomous capacity into freight flows it already operates and understands rather than building a separate autonomous-demand base, while Saga and Einride Driver have begun generating SaaS revenue following the late-2025 launch of the vehicle-agnostic offering, providing an early proof point for a more capital-light technology revenue model. Contribution economics have stabilized at the transport level, with the next margin inflection dependent on higher utilization and fixed-cost absorption as fleet scale increases. Contribution margin declined from 29.2% in 1H25 to 20.7% in 2H25, remained at 20.7% in 1H26 and is guided to improve to 21%-23% in 2H26 as utilization increases, with management targeting approximately 35% over the longer term. Reported cost of sales was SEK395.4 million against SEK263.5 million of revenue, producing a gross loss of approximately SEK131.9 million and gross margin near negative 50%, versus roughly negative 40% in 1H25, with approximately SEK95 million of depreciation and amortization embedded in cost of sales. The key margin lever is therefore scaling revenue and utilization faster than vehicle and infrastructure costs, with the approaching 400-vehicle year-end fleet expected to provide greater fixed-cost absorption and support operating leverage. Investment in autonomy, technology and commercial capacity is keeping adjusted EBITDA negative despite the stronger revenue trajectory. Adjusted EBITDA widened from negative $21.0 million in 1H25 to negative $27.9 million in 2H25 and negative $34.6 million in 1H26, with 2H26 guided to negative $35 million – $37 million as ENRD continues funding autonomous development, Saga capabilities and commercial infrastructure. Constant-currency R&D spend increased ~57% y/y to $20.4 million from $13.0 million, while reported R&D rose to SEK205.9 million from SEK131.2 million and selling expense increased to SEK46.6 million from SEK35.2 million. Net loss widened to SEK1.12 billion from SEK887.4 million, although comparability was affected by SEK636 million of non-cash recapitalization expense, SEK245 million of listing-related share compensation and SEK203 million of transaction advisory costs, partly offset by a SEK582 million warrant-remeasurement gain. The 2H26 setup therefore centers on whether 60%-73% revenue growth begins to improve fixed-cost absorption while ENRD sustains elevated investment in autonomy and platform development. DAF and defense expand the commercialization pathways for Einride Driver beyond ENRD-owned autonomous hardware, reinforcing the vehicle-agnostic licensing model. The DAF partnership will integrate Einride Driver onto an established PACCAR vehicle platform, with interface work during 2026 followed by integration and commissioning in 2027 before progressing toward more scaled deployments, reducing reliance on ENRD’s proprietary cab-less trucks as autonomy commercializes. In parallel, ENRD established a dedicated defense unit following pilot contracts with NATO-allied organizations and partnered with Centinus to combine autonomous logistics with real-time threat detection and counter-UAS monitoring. General (Ret.) Keith B. Alexander, who joined ENRD’s Board earlier this year, is expected to help guide expansion across Europe and the U.S., adding defense and cybersecurity expertise to the commercialization effort. Neither channel is yet a material financial contributor, but both broaden the potential market for a vehicle-agnostic Einride Driver while supporting a more capital-light technology revenue model that does not require ENRD to own the underlying fleet. Flipturn expands Saga into charging and energy management, adding a software-led layer that can improve deployment efficiency while addressing a practical bottleneck to electric-fleet scale. The acquisition adds more than 5,000 live charging ports and over 250 MW of charging capacity under management, alongside charge-port management, energy orchestration and connectivity to third-party charging networks. Aggregating charging demand should improve access to external infrastructure and charging economics while reducing site-readiness friction as ENRD expands across more customer locations. The transaction was primarily equity funded, with SEK373.5 million of base consideration including approximately 4.41 million ENRD ADSs and only ~SEK2.4 million of cash, while up to another 3.72 million ADSs are tied to contracted ARR and product milestones through 2028. The strategic payoff will depend on whether Flipturn converts its charging footprint into incremental software revenue, lower deployment friction and better charging economics, sufficient to justify the associated equity consideration. Operating cash requirements increased with the investment and deployment ramp, making working-capital efficiency increasingly important to funding the next phase of scale. Net cash used in operating activities increased ~88% y/y to SEK536.7 million from SEK285.2 million, reflecting the heavier investment burden ahead of planned fleet and technology deployments. Working capital provided a meaningful partial offset, with SEK143.1 million in inflows supported by higher trade payables and accrued expenses as supplier activity increased alongside deployment volumes. Trade receivables increased 32% from year end 2025 to SEK27.7 million and accrued income more than doubled to SEK61.3 million from SEK29.5 million, while trade and other payables increased ~55% to SEK411.0 million and accrued expenses rose to SEK160.7 million from SEK146.8 million. As ENRD moves into a faster deployment phase, the ability to convert revenue into cash efficiently and manage supplier and vehicle-payment timing should become increasingly important to limiting incremental external funding needs as the fleet scales. The public-market transaction materially strengthened near-term liquidity, providing a larger capital base to support the current deployment ramp and technology roadmap. Cash increased to approximately SEK747.6 million, or $77 million, at June 30 from SEK278.8 million at YE25 and SEK112.8 million a year earlier, supported primarily by approximately $113 million of PIPE proceeds, although only ~$3.3 million remained in the SPAC trust following redemptions and transaction fees and expenses totaled approximately $34 million. With 1H operating cash use of SEK536.7 million and investing cash use of SEK16.3 million, ENRD will still require access to external funding as the business scales, but management’s strategy of financing revenue-generating fleet assets separately should reduce the amount of corporate capital required for vehicle growth and preserve more balance-sheet capacity for Saga, autonomy and commercial expansion. Capital allocation is increasingly centered on capital-efficient fleet scaling, with corporate capital reserved for technology and commercial expansion while vehicle growth is funded through non-dilutive asset-backed structures. Loans and borrowings excluding leases totaled approximately SEK49.3 million at June 30, while lease liabilities were ~SEK732.8 million and the prior SEK207.7 million convertible debenture had been eliminated. ENRD entered approximately SEK33.9 million of installment-financing arrangements for electric-truck purchases during 1H26 and subsequently added a $25 million U.S. equipment facility in August, with individual drawdowns carrying 42-month terms and an effective interest rate of approximately 14%. Management expects this asset-backed approach to extend to larger fleet programs, including the Tesla Semis, with vehicles financed against the underlying revenue-generating assets rather than through new equity, implying zero incremental equity dilution from those vehicle deployments. The strategy allows corporate capital to remain directed toward Saga AI, Einride Driver, R&D and commercial expansion, while making vehicle utilization, contribution margin and returns relative to financing costs increasingly important to determining whether fleet growth remains value-accretive. The December 2026 exit rate provides the clearest near-term marker of ENRD’s scale-up, with annualized revenue targeted at $85 million to $95 million as contracted capacity moves into deployment. For 2H26, constant-currency revenue is guided to $39-$42 million, up 60% to 73% y/y, contribution margin to 21%-23% and adjusted EBITDA to negative $35 million to $37 million. Combined with the $27 million 1H actual, this implies approximately $66 million-$69 million of 2026 constant-currency revenue and negative $70 million to $72 million of adjusted EBITDA based on disclosed results and guidance. The December run-rate is expected to be supported by a fleet just below 400 vehicles versus approximately 250 today, with the majority of the capacity underpinning that revenue level already contracted. ENRD plans to issue a business update with selected figures in the fall before moving to quarterly reporting in 2027. Beyond 2026, the operating roadmap increasingly centers on scaling the four engines required to reach management’s 2028 cash flow breakeven target. Management estimates that approximately 1,500-2,000 deployed vehicles are required to reach breakeven, while existing JBPs represent roughly 1.4x-1.8x the freight volume necessary to support that fleet. With the majority of the 500 Tesla Semis targeted to be operational before year end 2027, the next execution steps center on converting additional JBPs into signed capacity, adding deployments through Tesla and other OEMs, and scaling technology licensing alongside FCaaS. The demand base therefore appears sufficient to support the targeted operating footprint, making deployment cadence, capital efficiency and margin conversion the principal milestones into 2027 and 2028. Together, capital-efficient fleet expansion, contracted-demand conversion, continued autonomy and R&D investment, and increasing Saga AI and Einride Driver monetization form the four strategic engines supporting the path to cash flow breakeven. Disclaimer: Exec Edge does not publish proprietary estimates, ratings, price targets, or investment recommendations. The valuation discussion below is illustrative only and is based on company filings, management commentary, and third-party data and estimates. It does not constitute a recommendation, price target, rating, or prediction of future pricing. Valuation has reset materially below the original transaction level despite improving commercial visibility, leaving execution against the current deployment ramp as the principal potential re-rating catalyst. As of the 8/20 close, ENRD carries a pro forma market capitalization of ~$884 million and an EV of ~$812 million, approximately 46% below the ~$1.51 billion EV implied by the SPAC transaction. This reset has occurred despite 1H26 constant-currency revenue growth of 26%, a 60%-73% 2H26 growth outlook, and substantially greater deployment visibility following the Amazon and Tesla Semi programs. Using the midpoint of management’s $85-$95 million December annualized revenue run-rate as a forward revenue proxy, ENRD trades at approximately 9.0x EV/Sales, providing a materially lower valuation entry point despite a substantially larger and more visible operating base. ENRD screens at a substantial discount to direct trucking-autonomy peers while trading at only a modest premium to the broader autonomous-vehicle group. Aurora Innovation and Kodiak AI trade at 156.4x and 54.3x NTM EV/Sales, respectively, producing a direct trucking-autonomy average of 105.4x compared with ENRD’s 9.0x forward revenue multiple based on management’s December annualized run-rate. The direct peer multiples remain unusually high because both businesses are still early in their commercial revenue ramps; however, the dispersion illustrates the substantial premium public markets assign to autonomous-trucking commercialization potential. The broader AV and sensing peer group trades at an average of approximately 6.9x NTM EV/Sales, placing ENRD at a more measured ~30% premium. That premium appears supportable given ENRD’s existing commercial footprint of 32 customers across seven countries, approximately 250 deployed vehicles, more than 18.5 million electric miles and 5,400+ driverless hours, combined with an integrated FCaaS, Saga AI and autonomous-software model that provides both current freight revenue and longer-term technology monetization. The valuation increasingly centers on ENRD conversion of contracted demand into revenue at improving margins and lower capital intensity. Delivery of the $39-$42 million 2H26 revenue outlook, a fleet approaching 400 vehicles by year end 2026 and contribution margin improving from 20.7% to the guided 21%-23% would provide tangible evidence that the current deployment ramp is translating into operating leverage. Beyond 2026, execution of the 500 Tesla Semi program, continued conversion of the $800 million+ JBP opportunity and increasing Saga AI and Einride Driver monetization could support a progressively higher-margin revenue mix, while third-party asset-backed financing provides a pathway to expand revenue-generating fleet capacity with zero incremental equity dilution from those vehicle deployments. Conversely, slower deployment conversion, limited gross-margin improvement or weaker capital efficiency would justify maintaining a discount despite the scale of contracted and prospective demand. At 9.0x EV/Sales on December run-rate revenue, the potential re-rating case is therefore increasingly tied to demonstrating that higher fleet scale can convert into faster revenue growth, improving margins and lower equity capital intensity, rather than further proof of underlying customer demand. Read Exec Edge’s Initiation on ENRD Here Subscribe to our Weekly Newsletter to Receive All Research Contact: Executives-Edge.com [email protected] The post Einride AB Reports Growth Acceleration & Fleet Scale Moves Towards 2028 – Quarterly Update Report appeared first on ExecEdge.

Image source: The Motley Fool. Wednesday, July 29, 2026 at 5:00 p.m. ET Vice President, Investor Relations - Stacy Feit Co-Founder and CEO - Chris Urmson CFO - David Maday Need a quote from a Motley Fool analyst? Email [email protected] Operator: Greetings, and welcome to the Aurora Second Quarter 2026 Business Review Call. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. It is now my pleasure to introduce Stacy Feit, Vice President, Investor Relations. You may now begin. Stacy Feit: Thanks, Paul. Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to our second quarter 2026 business review call. We announced our results earlier this afternoon. Our shareholder letter and a presentation to accompany this call are available on our Investor Relations website at ir.aurora.tech. The shareholder letter was also furnished with our Form 8-K filed today with the SEC. On the call with me today are Chris Urmson, Co-Founder and CEO; and David Maday, CFO. Chris will provide an update on the progress we've made across the key pillars of our business, and David will recap our second quarter financial results. We'll then open up the call to Q&A. A recording of this conference call will be available on our Investor Relations website at ir.aurora.tech shortly after this call has ended. I'd like to take this opportunity to remind you that during the call, we will be making forward-looking statements. These statements are subject to known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed, projected or implied during this call. In particular, those described in our risk factors included in our annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2025, and other documents filed with the SEC as well as the current uncertainty and unpredictability in our business, the markets and economy. Additional information will also be set forth in our quarterly report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2026. You should not rely on our forward-looking statements as predictions of future events. All forward-looking statements that we make on this call are based on assumptions and beliefs as of the date hereof, and Aurora disclaims any obligation to update any forward-looking statements, except as required by law. Our discussion today may include non-GAAP financial measures. These non-GAAP measures should be considered in addition to and not as a substitute for or in isolation from our GAAP results. Information regarding our non-GAAP financial results, including a reconciliation of our historical GAAP to non-GAAP results, may be found in our shareholder letter, which was furnished with our Form 8-K filed today with the SEC and may also be found on our Investor Relations website. Our discussion today may also include reference to forward-looking free cash flow, a non-GAAP financial measure. To the extent that this forward-looking financial measure is provided, it's presented on a non-GAAP basis without a reconciliation due to the inherent difficulty in forecasting and quantifying certain amounts that are necessary for such reconciliation. With that, I will now turn the call over to Chris. Christopher Urmson: Thanks, Stacy. The second quarter represented a meaningful leap forward in our path to scale, anchored by a number of customer wins. To capitalize on this growing demand, we've launched our new fleet of driverless trucks based on the International LT series without a person behind the wheel. Last week, we debuted Aurora Driver 2, the combination of our new software, second-generation commercial hardware and this new truck platform. If you didn't get a chance to join the live stream, check out the video on Page 4 of the slide deck. This milestone officially moves Aurora into the start of our commercial scaling phase. Backed by this momentum, we are fully allocated to exit the year with 200 driverless trucks in operation and are in negotiations with a number of Driver-as-a-Service business customers for 2027 and beyond. Our commercial momentum continues to accelerate after a strong start to the year, driven by a powerful customer flywheel effect. We recently executed Transportation as a Service agreements with two customers that aim to grow their networks with Aurora Driver-powered trucks, starting in Laredo, Texas, where near-shoring is driving unprecedented freight volume. Charger Logistics will utilize the Aurora Driver to add capacity on its network and drive higher utilization starting on the Dallas-Laredo route, one of the busiest corridors in Texas. Value Truck will initially focus on boosting route density between two key corridors, Dallas-Laredo and Fort Worth-Phoenix. In addition, we expanded our operations with Volvo Autonomous Solutions with their launch of commercial freight service powered by the Aurora Driver for industry leaders, DSV and AVI-SPL. Proving the value of our technology across complex networks and diverse applications lays the groundwork for widespread market adoption. Every new customer acts as a pipeline multiplier. As the broader logistics industry prepares to adopt autonomy, we're streamlining our customer onboarding cycle. This velocity is a powerful testament to the pent-up demand for a solution that helps address systemic industry bottlenecks. While expanding our commercial relationships, the Aurora Driver completed nearly 440,000 driverless miles since launch through the end of June, maintaining 100% on-time performance record and zero Aurora Driver attributed collisions. With additional trucks entering service weekly, we expect driverless miles to accelerate meaningfully moving forward. Our scaling plan for this new fleet prioritizes driverless delivery to and from customer facilities to further strengthen the Aurora Driver's value proposition. Our work with Detmar Logistics in West Texas illustrates this versatility. We have deployed driverless operations without a person behind the wheel between their facility in Midland, Texas and Capital Sand's mining site in Monahans, Texas along I-20. To support this deployment, we validated a frac sand trailer with minimal integration work, demonstrating the modularity and adaptability of the Aurora Driver. To enable nationwide driverless trucking and ensure seamless end-to-end service for our customers, we recently began supervised testing of way station navigation and on-route fueling. While robotaxis will require extensive infrastructure build-out, the freight ecosystem's established service networks and turnkey truck stop footprint makes trucking a plug-and-play market for autonomous technology. Leveraging this infrastructure, we're now piloting third-party fueling and scaling at truck stops. In these pilots, truck stop staff fuel the truck as the Aurora Driver navigates in and out of the fuel island. Looking ahead, truck stop personnel will utilize automated arrival notifications to efficiently secure, fuel and release Aurora Driver-powered trucks, enabling continuous long-haul travel. To support customer demand that is accelerating, we continue to advance our hardware and autonomy-enabled truck programs. The launch of our new fleet of driverless trucks also marks the initial commercial deployment of our second-generation commercial hardware kit. Engineered for 1 million miles of operation, this kit is designed to significantly increase uptime and reliability. It also delivers substantial performance gains, including a more efficient computer and an extended 1 kilometer range for FirstLight, our proprietary long-range FMCW LiDAR. This long-range capability provides the Aurora Driver with more than 34 seconds of reaction time at highway speeds, setting a new superhuman standard for safety. Crucially, we expect this kit to drive a 50% plus reduction in Aurora Driver hardware costs, a key lever supporting our breakeven gross margin target. We expect to have 20 to 25 driverless trucks in operation by the end of the third quarter. To support our scaling plan, our upfitter Roush has commenced manufacturing at a dedicated facility for Aurora. We've already received the initial builds and expect Roush to ramp to an annual run rate of 1,000 trucks in October. Concurrently, our ecosystem for series production is on a clear trajectory to hit its stride. At Volvo Group's 2026 Capital Markets Day, the company announced plans for Volvo Autonomous Solutions to begin driverless operations on the Volvo VNL autonomous in the first quarter of 2027. These trucks will be driven by the Aurora Driver. They expect to exit 2027 with more than 300 driverless trucks, paving the way for industrial scaling in 2028. We're seeing broad enthusiasm and engagement around the industry with Volvo projecting $3 billion in autonomous revenue within five years. The industrialization of autonomous freight is definitively at an inflection point. Volvo has already completed several Aurora Driver-powered trucks on their pilot line ahead of the first quarter 2027 driverless launch. Looking further ahead, we've also built Volvo development trucks equipped with components of our third-generation commercial hardware kit manufactured by AUMOVIO. Our partnership with AUMOVIO is intended to support tens of thousands of trucks. We look forward to testing these systems in the coming quarters ahead of AUMOVIO's planned start of production in the second half of 2027. In parallel, PACCAR and Aurora are jointly defining the path to a scalable launch of our third-generation commercial hardware kit integrated with PACCAR's future autonomy-enabled platform on their assembly lines. We designed our strategy to enable our asset-light commercial model to be deployed across the leading truck platforms, giving us unmatched flexibility to meet diverse fleet preferences as autonomous trucking scales. Our commercial readiness is matched by a highly supportive regulatory landscape. California recently joined the majority of other states in the U.S. to permit the deployment of driverless trucks. Last month, I had the privilege of representing our industry before the California Assembly Transportation Committee. This engagement provided an opportunity to share key learnings from our safe driverless operations, outline our thoughtful approach to regional expansion and foster shared confidence in the future of autonomous freight in the state. We have submitted our application to begin the required driver testing in California. At the federal level, we're seeing historic momentum toward a unified national framework. In May, the U.S. House Transportation Infrastructure Committee passed the BUILD America 250 Act, 62-2, a truly bipartisan surface transportation reauthorization bill. This bill features a dedicated framework for the nationwide deployment of autonomous trucks that would help harmonize the current patchwork of state laws and addresses operational updates that Aurora has long championed. For example, the legislation would explicitly permit the use of cab-mounted warning beacons instead of manually placed warning devices when a commercial motor vehicle is stopped. We continue to engage closely with lawmakers to advance this critical legislation into law and secure American leadership in the global autonomous transportation race. Improving road safety is an important component of that global leadership and core to the Aurora Driver's value proposition. To show you what this looks like in practice, I'd like to share a recent example that powerfully underscores our safety advantage. Earlier this month, one of our trucks was traveling on a frontage road in Fort Worth during a development mission. It was in manual mode, meaning the Aurora Driver system was not engaged in autonomy. The truck was being driven by one of our most experienced vehicle operators with over 2 million miles of Class 8 driving experience and a spotless safety record. The Aurora truck was proceeding into an intersection on a green light, which had been green for more than 25 seconds. Unfortunately, another vehicle entered the intersection against the red light and collided with our truck. Thankfully, no serious injuries were reported by either party. However, our truck and the other vehicles sustained significant damage. While the autonomy system was not engaged through a combination of log review and simulation, we were able to confirm the Aurora Driver perceived the red light runner nearly 6 seconds prior to the collision and would have slowed to avoid the collision even despite having the right of way with the green light. Events like this motivate our team to keep doing this incredibly important work. Last year, we began operating the first driverless Class 8 trucks on U.S. public roads. As we continue to scale driverless operations, our commitment to safety and transparency remains a core cultural tenet and key differentiator. Now we're entering our commercial scaling phase with Aurora Driver 2. We're already fully allocated to exit the year with 200 driverless trucks. We've earned third-party validation for our safety case, and we've advanced the industrial partnerships to deliver at the scale this opportunity demands. As our fleet grows week by week, we're positioning Aurora to power a meaningful share of the $1 trillion U.S. logistics industry. I'm incredibly proud of the discipline our team has shown in executing our vision responsibly, establishing deep credibility and cultivating an ecosystem of partners, customers, regulators and investors who share our conviction in the future we're building. With that, I'll now pass it over to Dave, who will review our financial results. David Maday: Thanks, Chris. Let's review our financial results for which we have provided a summary on Page 6 of the slide deck for reference. Second quarter 2026 revenue totaled $2 million across driverless and vehicle operator supervised commercial loads. The Aurora Driver achieved another record number of commercial miles driven during the quarter. Second quarter operating loss, including stock-based compensation, totaled $266 million. Excluding stock-based compensation of $60 million, R&D totaled $164 million, SG&A was $37 million and cost of revenue was $7 million. We used approximately $225 million in operating cash during the second quarter of 2026, and capital expenditures totaled $31 million. Excluding $63 million in cash bonus payments, which were funded through our at-the-market program, our cash spend was within our externally communicated quarterly average target. During the quarter, we issued 30 million shares of Class A common stock through our at-the-market program for net proceeds of $215 million. Using a portion of these proceeds as planned to fund our -- the referenced cash bonus payments as well as the tax liability associated with the vesting of employee restricted stock units, we increased our liquidity by $126 million. In turn, we ended the quarter with a very strong balance sheet, including nearly $1.2 billion in cash and short-term investments. We continue to expect 2026 revenue of $14 million to $16 million, up 400% year-over-year at the midpoint. Revenue will be back-end loaded with the fourth quarter projected to contribute over half of full year revenue as we scale driverless operations following the launch of our new fleet. We anticipate exiting the year with more than 200 driverless trucks in operation, which translates to an approximately $80 million revenue run rate for our Transportation-as-a-Service business. This establishes a powerful foundation for 2027 when we expect the core Driver-as-a-Service business model to commence. To support our scaling plan, we continue to expect quarterly cash use of approximately $190 million to $220 million on average in 2026. This includes approximately $150 million in anticipated full year capital expenditures, primarily attributed to our capacity plan. The focused execution driving Aurora's 2026 transition continued in the second quarter. We are making the strategic investments necessary to bring Aurora Driver 2 to large-scale industrial deployment. With every truck on the road, we are driving a safer, more efficient era for logistics. With that, we will now open the call to Q&A. Operator: Our first question is from George Gianarikas with Canaccord Genuity. George Gianarikas: Maybe to start, you clearly have several strong tailwinds at your back. You have a proven technology that's ready to scale, macro pressures like tightening freight capacity, rising fuel costs. So given the positive commercial momentum you've been announcing and recent industry announcements like the one from TFI yesterday around expanding its autonomous operations, what specific catalysts do you think will drive the next like real inflection point in commercial adoption? And if I may ask, are you directly involved with TFI? Christopher Urmson: Thanks, George. As you know, we're not going to comment about potential partnerships to customers until we're able to do that and aligned with them and whatnot. So no comment there. In terms of [ catalyst ] demand, I think it's just a continued building of trust and credibility, right? And we've seen with each step forward of the technology and each step forward with the customer adoption, we get this flywheel effect where the engagement we have with our commercial team just continues to grow and grow. And I expect as we put more and more of these second-generation trucks on the road and we continue to build the volume there, it success begets success here is my expectation. George Gianarikas: And maybe as a follow-up regarding the unit economics and the scaling road map. How confident are you that you can achieve your projected hardware cost downs given what's happening from an inflationary perspective? And maybe on the hardware maintenance front, specifically on your proprietary LiDAR, how resilient is the stack against real-world steel degradation? Should the units require service or replacement? How does that cost curve look like for maintaining your in-house components at scale? Christopher Urmson: Yes. So we continue to have confidence in our ability to bring -- to achieve the targets we have for the cost of the hardware kit and the maintenance support of that hardware kit to achieve our long-term economic objectives there. So continue to be very happy with that. It's really important to understand the level of rigor and testing we put these systems through to achieve the durability we intend to get out of them. We've been testing these units for months already, and we'll continue to test them forward so we can continue to build confidence in them. We've already begun some of the reliability testing for the third-generation hardware components. So this is work that is in flight and gives us a lot of confidence on what we can expect going forward with the fleet. I don't know, Dave, if there's more you'd add. David Maday: Yes. I think in terms of confidence of the economics just generally, obviously, we are already building our second-generation kit. So we have costs for the ones we're producing today and the ones that we'll be producing into next year, we have estimates. So we have a pretty good handle in terms of that. Certainly, there are some headwinds in terms of costs, but these kits are also designed and expected to last 1 million miles. So some minor increases in component costs. When you look at it on a unit economic basis, George, for gross profit over a per mile basis are not materially going to impact our gross margin projections. Operator: Our next question is from Ravi Shanker with Morgan Stanley. Ravi Shanker: Chris, you said that in the release that you are in negotiations with a number of customers for the DaaS business model for '27 and beyond. Can you just unpack that a little bit more and maybe give us a glimpse into what momentum of negotiations have been like, especially after the first few commercial agreements that you've announced in the last few months? Christopher Urmson: Yes. Enthusiastic, I guess, would be the right way to frame it. So we announced a few months ago now that MOU with Hirschbach, we continue to progress that deal forward. That really will create the framework for the rest of the partnerships that we have in the space. The core elements of that, we have clarity on, and we'll just continue to move that forward. Customers want to own these assets. They want to see the benefit from it, and we're excited to get them to them. David Maday: Yes. The other thing I'd say, Ravi, is that like for every customer that we sign up with Transportation-as-a-Service agreement, it is with the intent to then move into the Driver-as-a-Service in the following year. In terms of like the active negotiations, we are working with a couple of folks just to make sure that like the paper that we put in that we want to apply broadly works for everybody. And so that's why we're actively working with multiple folks. But the intent is, if you're a Transportation-as-a-Service customer today, we would expect that you'll start to add Driver-as-a-Service business model in 2027. Ravi Shanker: Understood. And maybe as a follow-up, again, to the comment that Volvo is projecting $3 billion in autonomous revenue in five years. Not to make you answer for Volvo, but I'm assuming if they're putting out a revenue target, they have done some fairly detailed math on what they think the truck is going to cost and how they share the economics and such. I'm wondering if they've shared any of that with you and if you can share with us. Christopher Urmson: Yes, we certainly can't share anything of Volvo's model with you, but I can share that we have clear an understanding of the economic arrangement between Aurora and Volvo, and we're excited for that. And we're excited to see them continue to grow their customer cohort, and we look forward to supporting them and helping them build their business. Operator: Our next question is from Andres Sheppard with Cantor Fitzgerald. Andres Sheppard-Slinger: Congratulations on the quarter and on getting Gen 2 out, very exciting. Wondering if you can maybe help us quantify the current fleet size, how many Gen 1 versus Gen 2 trucks are in operation today? As we think about your target for Q3, how should we think about that unit mix? And similarly, as we scale to the more than 200 trucks by year-end, how should we be thinking about that unit mix going forward? Christopher Urmson: Yes. Great question. Thank you. So today, we have on order of 25 trucks that are operating and a handful of them are the new international trucks. We expect to grow that to 20 to 25 trucks that are the international trucks by the end of this quarter. And then by the end of the year, as we said, have a couple of hundred trucks operating. You can expect the vast majority, if not all, of that fleet will be -- well, all of that fleet by the end of the year will either be international or Volvo. And so we're excited to see those come online. And we'll start to phase out the Peterbilt trucks with an eye to looking forward to reintroducing Peterbilt trucks with a third-generation hardware in the future. Andres Sheppard-Slinger: Wonderful. Very helpful. And just a quick follow-up to that. You kind of alluded to there just at the end. So now that the Gen 2 has launched, will Gen 1 trucks just be phased out completely or upgrade? And how does the 50% improvement in hardware cost reduction on Gen 2, how does that change your path to profitability? Christopher Urmson: Yes. We do expect to just phase those trucks out. They've served a really important purpose for us in demonstrating the technology, starting to build early customer traction and really kind of being a tremendous learning test bed for us as a company. But we're very excited to get on to the Gen 2 platform with all the benefits that come along with that and the ability to scale that for customers. So excited for that. In terms of the 50% cost reduction, this is what we've been talking about for some time as how that second-generation partner ultimately allows us to get to a point where we can operate the business with unit economic profitability. And so we expect that to continue to play out as we continue to improve our execution and drive efficiencies in the operations of the business and improve the system. And then ultimately, that third-generation hardware will take another step function in hardware cost for us, and that will allow us to drive to the ultimate margins that we anticipate in the business. Andres Sheppard-Slinger: Excellent. Congrats again. We'll pass it on. Christopher Urmson: Thank you. Appreciate it. Operator: Our next question is from Chris Pierce with Needham & Company. Christopher Pierce: This year, year-to-date, you've had a lot of customer announcements. I guess I just want to understand, how are customers thinking about why are they moving forward? Is it to add capacity and win share? Is it to better utilize their assets? Or is it about lowering per hour driver costs? Like how do you -- would you bucket those? Christopher Urmson: I'd say it's much more the first two of these. Every one of our customers put safety first and then talk about the importance of their people, their drivers and how this technology complements them. It really will -- we expect to allow them to expand their business, allow them to increase the utilization of their assets and allow them to have those incredible humans that they have on their team focus on things where they add the most value, where they can be the face of the company to their customers. So we're excited to see this help these customers grow and become more profitable. Christopher Pierce: And on that, is it fair to say they see a situation where they can outgrow their peers or they can really grow their business and kind of win share by those that are moving slower? Is that sort of the right way to think about it? Christopher Urmson: I think you'll have to ask them. But as we look at it, you've heard me say before that this technology is so impactful, transformational, improving safety, improving fuel economy, improving utilization for customers that if you're not using our stuff in the next five years, you just won't be competitive in long haul. So we're excited for that. Christopher Pierce: Okay. Perfect. And then just one last one. In the letter, it talked about streamlining customer onboarding. Can you kind of give us an example of a gating factor that was up and has come down on your side and sort of why you chose to kind of highlight this? Christopher Urmson: Yes. We're just seeing conversations move more quickly. We think part of that is just the visible experience and credibility we've built by operating driverless trucks for some time. Part of it is us just being smarter, understanding more what's involved in integrating with the customer business and getting the lessons learned from that and allowing us to do a better job of meeting the customers where they are today. So it's experience you just don't get without actually operating the fleet and serving customers. David Maday: I'd say the other thing on that is because we've reached a point in the autonomy performance and the generalizability and just where we are, our ability to take a customer request and go react to that quickly has really improved dramatically. And so we have a few more trucks, and we're adding a lot more trucks. We have more people to support them and the autonomy systems. We can go react to customer requests much quicker. Remember, when we first started, we were on Dallas to Houston. So you couldn't talk about like when you were going to exactly get to like Oklahoma City right away. And then once we got to a point where we were comfortable and generalizable, adding Oklahoma City as a potential route took weeks to do. And so our ability to move faster is one of the key elements as well. Christopher Urmson: And then I'd just add to that one last point, which is you just wouldn't have been able to meet supply with trucks for our customers last year between both the limitation for first-generation hardware and the work we had to do the integration onto the new platform. And so at this point now, we kind of unlocked that ability to scale the business. And it's much easier to have a conversation with customers when we have clarity on how we can serve them and when we can serve them. I think we have others in line for questions here still. Stacy Feit: Paul, are you able to open the line to the next question? Christopher Urmson: Well, we apologize for folks waiting in line. We'll -- hopefully, the operator will come back here and connect us. Operator: Our next question is from Ryan Sigdahl with Craig-Hallum Capital Group. Ryan Sigdahl: Chris, maybe curious on Volvo, just how you're thinking about Aurora's place in the AV ecosystem longer term as OEMs like Volvo work to build out their own TaaS businesses or as they call it BaaS. And if you ultimately care who you're selling to, whether it's an OEM running their own fleet or whether it's direct to the fleet customers yourself under a DaaS model. And then maybe second to that, Dave, if you're willing to comment on the financial implications of OEMs TaaS versus fleet DaaS from an economics to Aurora standpoint? Christopher Urmson: Yes. So we really think about that relationship we have with Volvo is kind of having two dimensions. So one is the integration with the OEM platform and then the support and engagement we have with Volvo Autonomous Solutions and their business. And when we look at Volvo Autonomous Solutions, we have a close relationship with them, of course, because of that broader relationship around the platform. But really, we look at them as a driver as a service customer to us, and that's great, and we are excited for them to go out and serve customers and build their business, and we will continue to work with them that way. David Maday: Yes. Relative to the financial differences, I would say this, each of them, whether you're doing Aurora Driver for freight and selling a TaaS or a DaaS business or we're working with Volvo Autonomous Solutions, we have gross margin targets to run the business. We look at both our cost structure to support that business and then the necessary margins. And so we look at them all together. So it's a good balance. I don't want to say they're exactly the same because the inputs and the cost to support those businesses are slightly different. But we do look at holistically each of them independently and then add them up together to make sure that it matches our overall projections. Ryan Sigdahl: Good. Then just on the Gen 2 international truck launch, in the video you posted last week, you could see at least a dozen, a little more than that kind of trucks in the background kind of implies you have high visibility to that 20 to 25 you guided for Q3. I guess, is that a reasonable inference? Or is there a reason some of those wouldn't necessarily be used for commercial operations? And then kind of second to that, I guess, would be just the path with Roush on track for 1,000 unit annual capacity by October, that implies 250 trucks a quarter. I guess why wouldn't you exit the year with more than 200 commercial trucks on the road? Christopher Urmson: So we have really good visibility in our access to trucks to support the 2025 at the end of the quarter. As you know, there's a ramp-up that it takes whenever you stand up a new manufacturing line. And so we expect that to ramp in Q4 to the full velocity. But we also understand that there may be challenges along that path. And so we're trying to provide what we think is reasonable guidance to where we expect that to net out. I don't know, Dave, if you'd add more there. David Maday: Yes. I think for certain, we have -- if we have the ability to build more, I'm sure we have stronger customer demand, and we'll take advantage of that. But for right now, we think that this is a pretty good plan to what we've guided to before, and it is our appropriate target at this point in time. Relative to your trucks comp internally, the videos and everything you're going to see, we do have development trucks as well. We have first-generation and second-generation trucks out there. So I wouldn't look too much at it. I think the important thing for us is we've got a handful of the international trucks already operating driverless on multiple routes and two customer endpoints as well. And by the end of the quarter, we expect to have 20 to 25. That will be the highest number of dedicated commercial trucks we've had going forward, and we're just going to build upon that. So we're super excited about the opportunity. Like this is like for a very long time, we've known this is coming, but like now we can confidently see the future and the growth in the truck supply. So we're excited as all about that. Christopher Urmson: Yes. For us internally here, we've been investing heavily to get to this point and be able to start to see these things come off the line and get used, and it's going to be a blast. Operator: Our next question is from Colin Rusch with Oppenheimer. Colin Rusch: Can you talk a little bit about what you're seeing from Roush from a tack time perspective in terms of production and validation that gives you some comfort around the scale up to the 1,000 trucks a year? Christopher Urmson: Yes. So first, I think it's just important to recognize that Roush does this, right? They're one of the folks that do finishing work from each OEMs and do this at scale, even scale much larger than what we're talking about. So part of the reason we selected them is the pedigree experience and competence that they have. So we have very little doubt there. We're still early in the ramp, but they're familiar with the work. We engage with them on a, if not a daily basis. And we just have a high degree of confidence that's going to come together. David Maday: Yes. The other thing that I'd say, Colin, is tech time for like production supply when you're doing large scale, somewhat relevant here. This is a dedicated facility, dedicated stations. It moves through like an assembly line like instead of one person building the entire truck. So it will be highly efficient. But tech time is not necessarily the thing that we're looking for. We look at the number of stations and the number of trucks we can build per week, and we try to match that to the supply of the Aurora Driver hardware kits that we'll have coming forward. Colin Rusch: Great. And then obviously, you guys are focused on the trucking market, but I'm sure you're getting a variety of components for other form factors and other applications. And given the sophistication of the platform and the kinds of learning cycles that you guys have demonstrated, just curious if you're starting to evolve your thinking about the ability to serve other markets and potentially carve out some other applications that could be a separate growth driver. Christopher Urmson: Yes. We consistently believe that the Aurora Driver itself and the broad competence and capabilities we built as a company that allows us to deliver a safety-critical, highly complicated AI-enabled system into the world is going to travel. Right now, we look at the trucking market, and it's hard to imagine a market that would give you both better precision for and that has better opportunity for us to grow and succeed in the business. But for sure, we are starting to think about where are the other places that we should go apply this and exactly what the right timing is to begin investing in those spaces. But I would not forgive myself, and I'm sure our investors would not forgive us if we didn't execute with excellence in delivering on the trucking application. And so we'll keep that very much front and foremost. Operator: Our next question is from Scott Group with Wolfe Research. Cole Couzens: It's Cole on for Scott. Can you size roughly how many trucks carriers intend to put on to their balance sheets in 2027 following some of your customer negotiations around the DaaS model? Christopher Urmson: I don't think there's much more we can share there than what we've already said, which is with that MOU we have in place with Hirschbach, they're expecting to put 500 tractors into their fleet over '27 and '28. We'll look forward to sharing more with you as we can. Cole Couzens: Okay. And maybe just on the OEM side, how do you think -- or do you think the OEM appetite to scale autonomous is keeping up with your targets? And what's the risk that you'll have to switch to a more transportation as a service dominated model going forward? Christopher Urmson: Yes. Those feel like very different questions, right? So can the OEMs keep up with the demand? I'm a big believer in the market system and that if customers are seeing the benefits that they will with the Aurora Driver and the pull that will generate, it's going to encourage OEMs to produce vehicles to meet that demand, because this is going to be transformational. It's going to have a huge positive impact for our customers. And so I think that the more we can demonstrate that value, the more enthusiasm and energy the customer pool will generate with OEM partners. And then the second question is, do you think we'd have to pivot towards a Transportation-as-a-Service business? Not from where we see today. No. Again, why do we have the approach -- why do we take the approach we're taking? We think we're really good at building autonomy systems and the driving capability, but we have the humility to understand that others are great at what they do. And so I would much rather support a Werner or Hirschbach or Schneider or any of these other companies that we work with and help them build and grow their business and allow us to stay focused on what we do. And I think together, that's the way we have the biggest impact in the world and the way we succeed best. Operator: Our next question is from Michael Latimore with Northland Capital Markets. Mike Latimore: In terms of launching new routes, can you discuss a little bit about the time to launch a new route? Do you expect that to continue to shrink? Maybe can you quantify where it is now versus where it would be optimally? Christopher Urmson: Yes. So, first, we're really focused on where the customers want us to be operating, and that's going to drive route expansion for us. As we mentioned, there's a lot of excitement right now with routes coming out of Laredo given the nearshoring, and we're excited to be supporting customers there and continuing to build across the Southern Freight corridor. For us, we look at this as a thing where the cost for us to build new routes is going to continue to decrease and the time associated will continue to decrease. This is not a thing that I really worry about is driving the scale of our business over time. This is something where you'll see us start to pick up more routes as customer demand for it drives it and through the back half of this year and in years going forward. But it's not really something that we think of as a major cost driver for the business. Mike Latimore: How many routes do you expect to have by year-end? Christopher Urmson: What we've shared is that we expect to be expanding into the Sunbelt through the year-end. We haven't been specific about the number of routes. Mike Latimore: Okay. Great. And then on the Detmar program, any kind of additional opportunity there or expansion opportunities from kind of where you are now? Christopher Urmson: Yes. I think that I would imagine like any other business, as we prove our value and demonstrate how we're able to support and help them grow their business, that will drive increased demand. And so, so far, we're excited to be off and started with them and operating driverlessly between their relevant endpoints. And we look forward to updating you as we continue to build that relationship with them. Operator: Our next question is from Itay Michaeli with TD Cowen and Company. Itay Michaeli: Just a first question on the Aurora Driver 2. I was hoping you could talk more about the degree of performance improvement in the new generation, just given it's both kind of hardware and software upgrades and whether that performance improvement comes in the form of safety or perhaps like just more ODD coverage? Christopher Urmson: Yes. It really drives both a reduction in cost, which is important for us to grow our business. And then it does have some important performance and ODD expansion capabilities. We certainly wouldn't have put anything on the road that we didn't believe was safe. And so this continues to be a safe product that we have out there. But that extra range that we have with the FirstLight LiDAR allows us to react sooner, particularly to situations at night, which is a big advantage. And then the conditions in which we can operate continue to expand, which does a better job of serving our customers. Itay Michaeli: Great. That's helpful. And then just as a follow-up, I'm curious what your latest thoughts on just like remote assistance and on-site support costs, kind of how to think about those over the next 12 to 18 months, just from what you've kind of gained experience with the last few quarters. And maybe along those lines, too, kind of how you think about insurance costs and how those are being treated in some of your latest customer agreements? Christopher Urmson: Yes. On both remote assist and on-site support, we continue to see positive trends in how we're deploying the technology and how that is translating to the rate of -- that we need to. And ultimately, that will drive the cost of delivering the Aurora Driver. So we're excited for that. We continue to be on track in delivering a product that's going to be performance and meet our business objectives there. In terms of insurance, Dave, do you want to speak to that? David Maday: Yes. Because we are the DOT holder today, right, for our Transportation as a Service business, we carry the insurance associated with that. So we have insurance coverage for all of our trucks. We have really good rates really on a per truck basis because of the safety performance of the system. And while still limited in a track record, we've got a pretty impressive tracker coming up to leverage. And so we'll continue to expand upon that. When we shift over to Driver-as-a-Service, this is an opportunity for both sides. It's an opportunity for us to just have coverage associated with the Aurora Driver itself and other things that happen. And for our customers, it's an opportunity for them to have increased level of confidence and reduce incidents and safety and coverage for them, all things that they don't have today. So I think it's a win-win across the board. Operator: Our next question is from Mark Delaney with Goldman Sachs. Aman Gupta: You have Aman on for Mark. Maybe starting with some of the comments you made on the kind of path exiting the year. You talked about being able to leave the year with 200-plus driverless trucks, but also transitioning to DaaS next year. How should we think about your ability and willingness to add trucks beyond that into '27 and beyond? And how might that impact your cash use per quarter targets that you've laid out for '26 going into '27? Christopher Urmson: Yes. So, in '27, it will be the transition year where we move from primarily Transportation as a service business to a primarily driver as a Service business over the course of the year. So we may add more trucks in '26 under the TaaS business. As we look at that, we obviously generate more revenue, but we expect to do so at a lower margin with a TaaS vehicle versus a DaaS vehicle. But I don't know, David, if you want to add more to that? David Maday: Yes. We haven't provided any guidance for 2027 cash use and capital expenditures, but we do have projections. We will add additional TaaS units into 2027. It's not like we go from like on January 1, everything is DaaS. It's every customer, right, like this is customer adoption and support. So there's going to -- it's going to be kind of a customer-by-customer transition. We do have that built into our forecast for our overall liquidity projections. And I think we've shared before that we'd be willing to support up to 500 test trucks if needed. I don't think it will be that many, but like we obviously have flexibility in our modeling and in our financing to support that. Aman Gupta: Understood. And maybe kind of to the earlier point that Chris, I think you made, how are you guys thinking about some of the other functions that you're planning to add like some of the other weather conditions and being able to haul different types of trailers? Can you maybe provide some color on progress there given that you're planning to do expansions more to customer demand? Christopher Urmson: Yes. We continue to expand the conditions the truck can operate in. Right now, it has a fairly broad operating environment. One of the things we'll be looking to add as we get towards the end of this year is operation in light snow and cold weather. That will be an important enabler for the vehicle or for the system as we go forward. At this point, we have a fairly broad set of trailers that we do support, supporting many of the uses for our customers. But as we continue to add customers, we'll look at the trailers that are needed to support that growth of the business. Adding a trailer is not a big deal, right? We take safety very seriously. And so it means that we do go through a process, a deliberate process to make sure that it actually works, not just kind of one shot it in hope. But it's not a material amount of effort. Operator: Our next question is from David Vernon with Bernstein Research. Justine Laufer: This is Justine Laufer is speaking on behalf of David Vernon. So, first, it looks like the number of driverless trucks in operation expected by year-end has gone from more than 200 mentioned last quarter to this quarter's presentation saying just 200 trucks. Has something changed with build rates or deals that shifted that outlook down slightly? David Maday: Yes. Justin, it's Dave. Yes, I wouldn't read too much into that. We're fully allocated 200. We have the flexibility to go more. So I wouldn't look too much into it. if we had to get to 201, 202, 205, that's not really our concern. Right now, we've been really just trying to match the supply with our customer demand. And we said we have a lot of demand right now. We just want to make sure that we're pretty solid on the supply. We'll actually have more trucks built than that, but we also have to have some trucks that are able to support development and then we have to have trucks that can backfill during regular scheduled repair and maintenance of base trucks and things like that. So I wouldn't read too much into it right now. Justine Laufer: Got it. Okay. That's helpful. And then the other thing, I'm hoping that you can help us get a sense of the economic impact of these commercial deals being announced. Like when we see these press releases come out about new deals like the Hirschbach one or the value truck one, can you help us think about how to frame the revenue impact for investors? Like can you discuss and maybe like discuss the difference between the revenue impact of the TaaS versus DaaS deals? David Maday: Well, obviously, the TaaS deals have a higher per mile revenue outlook because it's the full service. So as we've said before, kind of in that $2-plus range, whereas DaaS is targeting the $0.85 plus. So there's a substantial difference in TaaS versus DaaS on the revenue side, but there's also a substantial difference on the cost side and on the margin side. In terms of our announcements, essentially, I would guide it this way. We have -- we're fully allocated to 200 trucks. 200 trucks at the end of the year equals roughly a revenue run rate of $80 million, right? So by the end of the year, before we add any trucks in 27, before we add any more to go above $200 million, we would have a contractual rate, which is roughly $80 million revenue run rate. So, for us, if you think about where we were to start the year and then in 1 year having a run rate of $80 million, it's hyper growth for us. Operator: Thank you. We have reached the end of our question-and-answer session. This does conclude today's conference call. We thank you again for your participation. You may disconnect your lines at this time. Before you buy stock in Aurora Innovation, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and Aurora Innovation wasn’t one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut are built for long-term growth and could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $397,405!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $1,344,091!* That performance is why people listen. With a track record of beating the S&P 500 by 4x, Stock Advisor offers a distinct advantage. 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Autonomous trucking developer Aurora Innovation (NASDAQ: AUR) reported a second-quarter net loss of $270 million on $2 million in revenue Wednesday. Executives restated the driverless truck rates behind the two business models the company is selling to carriers and shippers. Chief Financial Officer David Maday said Aurora’s transportation-as-a-service offering carries a per-mile revenue outlook in the $2-plus-per-mile range, while its driver-as-a-service subscription targets $0.85+ per mile. Maday said the company had put both figures out previously. Aurora plans to begin moving customers from the first model to the second in 2027. The gap between those two numbers is the practical question for any fleet weighing autonomous capacity. Under TaaS, Aurora holds a U.S. Department of Transportation operating authority, controls the truck, carries the insurance, and bills a full-service rate. Under DaaS, according to the company’s Form 10-Q, customers “acquire, manage, and maintain fleets directly, while subscribing to the Aurora Driver and a suite of related services.” Aurora’s loss amounted to 14 cents a share, wider than the 12-cent average of analysts’ estimates. Revenue rose 100% from $1 million a year earlier, which the company attributed in its Form 10-Q to increased utilization, geographical expansion, and higher fuel surcharges. “Obviously the TaaS deals have a higher per mile revenue outlook because it’s the full service,” Maday said. “As we’ve said before, kind of in that $2 plus range, whereas DaaS is targeting the $0.85 plus. There’s a substantial difference in TaaS versus DaaS on a revenue side, but there’s also a substantial difference on the cost side and on the margin side.” Aurora describes the shift as customer-by-customer rather than a single cutover. “For every customer that we sign up with a Transportation as a Service agreement, it is with the intent to then move into the DriverasaService in the following year. That’s why we’re actively working with multiple folks,” Maday said. “If you’re a Transportation as a Service customer today, we would expect that you’ll start to add Driver as a Service business model in 2027.” The anchor for that transition is Hirschbach Motor Lines. CEO Chris Urmson said the Iowa-based refrigerated carrier is expected to put 500 tractors into its fleet across 2027 and 2028 under a memorandum of understanding announced in April, and that the agreement will set the template for later deals. Final commercial terms and a binding agreement were expected to close later this year. Hirschbach runs 2,948 power units, so the commitment amounts to roughly a sixth of its fleet. “That really will create the framework for the rest of the partnerships that we have in the space,” Urmson said. “Customers want to own these assets. They want to see the benefit from it.” Insurance moves with the model. Maday said Aurora carries coverage on every truck today because it is the DOT authority holder under TaaS, and that per-truck rates reflect the system’s safety record. “When we shift over into Driver as a Service, this is an opportunity for both sides,” he said. “For our customers, it’s an opportunity for them to have an increased level of confidence and reduce incidents in safety and coverage for them. All things that they don’t have today.” Analysts pressed for more detail on the economics with Aurora’s OEM partner, Volvo and got little. Morgan Stanley’s Ravi Shanker asked whether Volvo, which projects $3 billion in autonomous revenue within five years on trucks running the Aurora Driver, had shared the math behind that target. “We certainly can’t share anything of Volvo’s model with you,” Urmson said, adding that Aurora has a clear understanding of the economic arrangement between the two companies. Aurora’s figures land close to what fleets already spend, though the two sets of numbers measure different things. The industry-average cost to operate a truck was $2.336 per mile in 2025, the highest in the history of the American Transportation Research Institute’s annual operational costs report, released July 15. Driver compensation accounted for $1.028 of that, split between $0.818 in wages and $0.210 in benefits. It was the first year ATRI’s combined driver compensation figure topped $1 per mile. That puts Aurora’s DaaS target of “$0.85 plus” a mile, roughly 17% less than what a fleet currently pays to employ a driver, according to Aurora. The subscription replaces the driver line while leaving fuel, equipment, maintenance, insurance, tires, and tolls with the carrier. Aurora has not said what share of terminal or remote-assist cost shifts to customers under DaaS. A caveat: comparisons are directional rather than exact. ATRI measures carriers’ actual costs across sectors and fleet sizes, and its figures are 2025 actuals. Aurora’s are a forward-looking revenue outlook and a target for a fleet that does not yet exist. Geography cuts the same way. Aurora’s lanes are concentrated in Texas, and the South-Central U.S. is the cheapest region ATRI tracks, at $2.23 per mile against the $2.336 national average, with driver wages of $0.781 versus $0.818 nationally. Measured against the lanes Aurora actually runs, the gap narrows. The utilization gap is wider. ATRI put average annual mileage at 85,991 miles per truck in 2025, up 4% and rising steadily since 2022. At the bottom of Aurora’s stated rate range, the mileage implied by its own run-rate math is just under 200,000 miles per truck, more than twice the ATRI average. That assumption carries much of the weight in Aurora’s economics. Aurora said it is fully allocated to exit 2026 with 200 driverless trucks, which it said equates to roughly an $80 million annualized revenue run rate for the TaaS business. “We’re fully allocated to 200 trucks,” Maday said. “200 trucks at the end of year equals roughly a revenue run rate of $80 million.” Spread across the fleet, that works out to about $400,000 per truck a year, and at the bottom of Maday’s stated range it implies just under 200,000 revenue miles per truck. The shareholder letter refers to “more than 200” trucks, and the $2 figure is a floor, so real per-truck revenue and mileage may come in lower. That implied utilization rests on the round-the-clock running Aurora pitches as the core benefit. The company’s shareholder letter describes the Aurora Driver as adding “the potential for 24/7 capacity on key long-haul and high-volume routes.” Aurora reaffirmed full-year 2026 revenue guidance of $14 million to $16 million, up 400% at the midpoint by the company’s math, with the fourth quarter expected to contribute more than half of the total. Getting there depends on manufacturing. Upfitter Roush has begun building at a dedicated Aurora facility and is expected to reach an annual run rate of 1,000 trucks in October. Aurora expects 20 to 25 second-generation trucks in service by the end of the third quarter, from roughly 25 trucks operating across all generations today. That puts the bulk of the buildout in the fourth quarter. Urmson flagged the risk in that schedule. “As you know, there’s a ramp-up that it takes whenever you stand up a new manufacturing line,” he said. “We also understand that there may be challenges along that path. We’re trying to provide what we think is reasonable guidance to where we expect that to net out.” Older Peterbilt units will be phased out as International and Volvo platforms take over, though Urmson said Aurora expects to reintroduce Peterbilt trucks once its third-generation hardware is ready. Maday said Aurora would fund more company-owned trucks if demand warranted. “I think we’ve shared before that we’d be willing to support up to 500 TaaS trucks if needed,” he said. Aurora expects its second-generation hardware kit, deployed commercially for the first time in late July on the International LT platform, to cut Aurora Driver hardware costs by more than 50%. Aurora says the kit is engineered for 1 million miles of operation. “In terms of the 50% cost reduction, this is what we’ve been talking about for some time, is how that second generation hardware ultimately allows us to get to a point where we can operate the business with unit economic profitability,” Urmson said. Maday acknowledged component cost pressure but said it does not move the margin math when spread across the kit’s service life. “Certainly, there are some headwinds in terms of costs, but these kits are also designed and expected to last a million miles,” he said. “Some minor increases in component costs when you look at [it] on a unit economic basis … for gross profit over a per mile basis, are not materially going to impact our gross margin projections.” A third-generation kit built by AUMOVIO, formerly Continental, has a planned start of production in the second half of 2027. Aurora’s 10-Q says the company plans to rely on AUMOVIO as a single supplier for that hardware and warns it “may be unable to find alternative suppliers to satisfactorily deliver its products, if at all.” Aurora used $225 million in operating cash during the quarter and spent $31 million on capital expenditures. That operating figure sits above the company’s guided range of $190 million to $220 million a quarter; Aurora said the quarter landed within target once $63 million in cash bonus payments funded through its at-the-market equity program are excluded. The company issued 30 million Class A shares through that program during the quarter for $215 million in net proceeds, lifting shares issued and outstanding to 1.998 billion from 1.943 billion at the end of 2025. Aurora ended June with nearly $1.2 billion in cash and short-term investments and said in the 10-Q that its liquidity is sufficient for at least 12 months. Aurora added TaaS agreements with Charger Logistics on the Dallas-Laredo lane and Value Truck on Dallas-Laredo and Fort Worth-Phoenix, and has started to haul frac sand for Detmar Logistics with nobody behind the wheel between Midland and Monahans, Texas. Volvo Autonomous Solutions is running Aurora-powered freight for DSV and AVI-SPL in Texas. Aurora said the Aurora Driver has logged nearly 440,000 driverless miles since launch through June 30, with a 100% on-time performance record and no collisions attributed to the Aurora Driver, against more than 6 million cumulative commercial miles. Urmson disclosed one collision that fell outside the reported quarter. An Aurora truck in manual mode, with the autonomy system not engaged, was struck in Fort Worth in July by a vehicle that ran a red light. Both vehicles sustained significant damage and no serious injuries were reported. Urmson said log review and simulation confirmed the Aurora Driver perceived the other vehicle nearly six seconds before impact and would have slowed to avoid it. Urmson said carriers are adopting the technology for capacity and asset utilization rather than headcount cost, and said he has made the competitive case before. “This technology is so impactful, transformational, improving safety, improving fuel economy, improving utilization, for customers, that if you’re not using our stuff in the next five years, you just won’t be competitive in long haul,” he said. The post Aurora reports Q2 results, details per-mile pricing appeared first on FreightWaves.

Our analysts just identified a stock with the potential to be the next Nvidia. Tell us how you invest and we'll show you why it's our #1 pick. Tap here. Launched Aurora Driver 2, integrating second-generation commercial hardware with a new driverless truck platform to transition from development to industrial scaling. Achieved a 50% reduction in hardware costs with the new kit, which is engineered for 1 million miles of operation to support long-term gross margin targets. Leveraged a 'customer flywheel effect' where successful pilot operations with partners like Detmar Logistics are accelerating onboarding cycles for new freight customers. Prioritized an asset-light commercial model that integrates with leading truck platforms, providing flexibility to meet diverse fleet preferences as autonomy scales. Capitalized on the established truck stop footprint for fueling and navigation, positioning autonomous trucking as a 'plug-and-play' solution compared to the infrastructure-heavy robotaxi market. Demonstrated safety superiority through simulation showing the Aurora Driver would have avoided a collision caused by a red-light runner that a human operator could not prevent. Fully allocated to exit 2026 with 200 driverless trucks in operation, projecting an $80 million revenue run rate for the Transportation-as-a-Service (TaaS) business. Planning a strategic transition in 2027 from the TaaS model to the core Driver-as-a-Service (DaaS) model as customers begin taking assets onto their own balance sheets. Anticipating a production ramp-up with partner Roush to reach an annual run rate of 1,000 trucks by October 2026 to meet accelerating demand. Advancing third-generation hardware manufactured by AUMOVIO for planned start of production in the second half of 2027 to support tens of thousands of trucks. Engaging with federal lawmakers to pass the BUILD America 250 Act to harmonize state laws and establish a unified national framework for autonomous deployment. Increased liquidity by $126 million during the quarter through the at-the-market program to fund cash bonus payments and tax liabilities. Phasing out first-generation Peterbilt trucks to focus resources on the higher-efficiency International and Volvo driverless platforms. Acknowledged potential supply chain headwinds but maintained that minor component cost increases will not materially impact per-mile gross margin projections. Submitted applications for driver testing in California following the state's recent regulatory shift to permit driverless truck deployment. One stock. Nvidia-level potential. 30M+ investors trust Moby to find it first. Get the pick. Tap here. Management believes success begets success, with each step forward in technology building the trust and credibility necessary to drive the flywheel effect. The ability to react quickly to customer requests, such as adding new routes like Oklahoma City in weeks rather than months, is a key velocity driver. Confidence remains high in achieving cost targets because the second-generation kits are already in production with known cost structures. The 1-million-mile design life of the hardware ensures that minor inflationary pressures on components do not significantly degrade the long-term margin profile. 2027 will be a transition year where the business moves from primarily TaaS to primarily DaaS on a customer-by-customer basis. Aurora is willing to support up to 500 TaaS units on its own balance sheet if necessary to facilitate this transition, though they expect lower numbers. Management plans to add light snow and cold weather capabilities by the end of 2026 to expand the Operational Design Domain (ODD). Adding support for different trailer types is described as a deliberate but non-material effort that follows customer demand.

This article first appeared on GuruFocus. Release Date: July 29, 2026 For the complete transcript of the earnings call, please refer to the full earnings call transcript. Launched Aurora Driver 2, a new fleet of driverless trucks based on the International LT Series, marking the start of commercial scaling. Executed transportation-as-a-service agreements with new customers like Charger Logistics and Value Truck, expanding commercial momentum. Completed nearly 440,000 driverless miles with a 100% on-time performance record and zero Aurora Driver-attributed collisions. Second-generation hardware kit is expected to reduce Aurora Driver hardware costs by over 50%, supporting breakeven gross margin targets. Strong regulatory progress, including California permitting driverless truck deployment and federal momentum for a national autonomous vehicle framework. Revenue remains low at $2 million for Q2 2026, with significant operating losses of $266 million. Cash burn continues at a high rate, with approximately $225 million used in operating cash during Q2 2026. Dependence on scaling production with partners like Roush, which may face ramp-up challenges to reach 1,000 trucks annual run rate by October. Transition from transportation-as-a-service to driver-as-a-service model is still in early stages, with full commercial adoption not expected until 2027. Potential risks from inflationary pressures on hardware costs and the need to phase out first-generation trucks, which may impact short-term fleet efficiency. Warning! GuruFocus has detected 2 Warning Signs with AUR. Is AUR fairly valued? Test your thesis with our free DCF calculator. Q: Given the positive commercial momentum and recent industry announcements, what specific catalyst do you think will drive the next real inflection point in commercial adoption?A: Chris Ermsten, Co-Founder and CEO: I think it's just a continued building of trust and credibility. We've seen with each step forward of the technology and each step forward with the customer adoption, we get this flywheel effect where the engagement we have with our commercial team just continues to grow. I expect as we put more and more of these second-generation trucks on the road and continue to build the volume there, success begets success. Q: You mentioned you are in negotiations with a number of customers for the Driver as a Service (DAS) business model by '27 and beyond. Can you unpack that a little more and give us a glimpse into the momentum of those negotiations?A: Chris Ermsten, Co-Founder and CEO: Enthusiastic would be the right way to frame it. The MOU with Hirschbach continues to progress and will create the framework for the rest of the partnerships. Customers want to own these assets and see the benefit from it. A: David McDay, CFO: For every customer we sign up with a Transportation as a Service (TAS) agreement, it is with the intent to move into DAS the following year. We are actively working with multiple folks to ensure the paper works for everybody. Q: How confident are you that you can achieve your projected hardware cost downs given inflationary pressures? And on the hardware maintenance front, how resilient is the stack against real-world field degradation?A: Chris Ermsten, Co-Founder and CEO: We continue to have confidence in our ability to achieve the targets for the cost of the hardware kit and its maintenance support to achieve our long-term economic objectives. We've been testing these units for months and have already begun reliability testing for third-generation components. A: David McDay, CFO: We are already building our second-generation kit, so we have a good handle on costs. While there are some headwinds, these kits are designed to last 1 million miles, so minor increases in component costs on a per-mile basis are not materially going to impact our gross margin projections. Q: Can you help us quantify the current fleet size and the mix of Gen. 1 vs. Gen. 2 trucks? As you scale to more than 200 trucks by year-end, how should we think about that mix?A: Chris Ermsten, Co-Founder and CEO: Today, we have on the order of 25 trucks operating, and a handful of them are the new International trucks. We expect to grow that to 20 to 25 International trucks by the end of this quarter. By the end of the year, the vast majority, if not all, of the fleet will be either International or Volvo. We will start to phase out the Peterbilt trucks with an eye to reintroducing them with third-generation hardware in the future. Q: How are customers thinking about why they are moving forward with autonomous technology? Is it to add capacity, better utilize assets, or lower driver costs?A: Chris Ermsten, Co-Founder and CEO: It's much more the first two. Every customer puts safety first and talks about the importance of their drivers. This technology will allow them to expand their business, increase utilization of their assets, and allow their human drivers to focus on where they have the most value. Customers that aren't using our technology in the next five years just won't be competitive in long haul. Q: How are you thinking about Aurora's place in the AV ecosystem longer-term as OEMs like Volvo build out their own VaaS businesses? Do you care who you are selling to?A: Chris Ermsten, Co-Founder and CEO: We look at Volvo Autonomous Solutions as a Driver as a Service customer to us. We are excited for them to go out and serve customers and build their business. A: David McDay, CFO: Whether we are doing TAS or working with Volvo, we have gross margin targets. We look at the cost structure and necessary margins for each business holistically to ensure it matches our overall projections. Q: On the Gen. 2 International truck launch, the video implied high visibility to the 20-25 trucks guided for Q3. Also, with Roush on track for 1,000-unit annual capacity by October, why wouldn't you exit the year with more than 200 commercial trucks?A: Chris Ermsten, Co-Founder and CEO: We have really good visibility on our access to trucks to support the 20-25 in the quarter. There is a ramp-up whenever you stand up a new manufacturing line, and we expect that to ramp in Q4 to full velocity. We are trying to provide what we think is reasonable guidance. A: David McDay, CFO: If we have the ability to build more, we have strong customer demand and will take advantage of it. But for right now, this is a good plan and our appropriate target. We have a handful of International trucks already operating driverless on multiple routes, and by the end of the quarter, we will have the highest number of dedicated commercial trucks we've had. Q: Can you discuss the time to launch a new route? Do you expect that to continue to shrink?A: Chris Ermsten, Co-Founder and CEO: We focus on where customers want us to operate, which is driving route expansion. The cost and time for us to build new routes will continue to decrease. This is not a major cost driver for the business. We will start to pick up more routes as customer demand drives it through the back half of this year and in years going forward. Q: How should we think about your ability and willingness to add trucks beyond 200 into '27 and beyond? How might that impact your cash use per quarter targets?A: Chris Ermsten, Co-Founder and CEO: In '27, it will be a transition year from primarily TAS to primarily DAS. We may add more trucks in '26 under the TAS business, which generates more revenue but at a lower margin. A: David McDay, CFO: We haven't provided guidance for 2027 cash use, but we will add additional cash units into 2027. It will be a customer-by-customer transition. We have shared before that we'd be willing For the complete transcript of the earnings call, please refer to the full earnings call transcript.

PITTSBURGH, July 29, 2026--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aurora Innovation, Inc. (NASDAQ: AUR) today announced its second quarter 2026 results. Aurora's shareholder letter and financial results are available on its investor relations website at ir.aurora.tech. "To meet accelerating demand for our product, we’ve launched Aurora Driver 2 – our second-generation hardware and advanced software on a new driverless truck platform," said Chris Urmson, co-founder and CEO of Aurora. "Backed by recent customer contracts, strong momentum across our pipeline, and a powerful manufacturing ecosystem, we are positioned to put hundreds of driverless trucks on the road this year." Business Highlights Second-Generation Fleet on the Road: Aurora has deployed its second fleet of trucks without a person behind the wheel, integrating its second-generation hardware kit with the International® LT® Series vehicle. Designed for one million miles of operation, the kit is expected to be half the cost of the previous generation. Safely Accelerating Commercial Momentum: Aurora recently signed new customer agreements with Value Truck and Charger Logistics to optimize operations and grow their networks with Aurora Driver-powered trucks. That commercial growth is reinforced by a strong safety record – hundreds of thousands of driverless miles with zero Aurora Driver-attributed collisions. Volvo Autonomous Solutions also brought on new customers, DSV and AVI-SPL, launching commercial freight services using the Volvo VNL Autonomous powered by the Aurora Driver. Path to Industrial Scale: Aurora’s upfitter, Roush, has commenced manufacturing the new fleet and is expected to ramp to an annual run-rate of 1,000 trucks in October. In addition, Volvo Autonomous Solutions plans to begin driverless operations on the Volvo VNL Autonomous powered by the Aurora Driver in the first quarter of 2027. Regulatory Tailwinds: The company's commercial readiness is matched by a highly supportive regulatory landscape, with California recently joining the majority of U.S. states in permitting the deployment of driverless trucks. Aurora has submitted its application to begin the required drivered testing in the state. Strong Balance Sheet, Reaffirmed Guidance: Aurora ended the second quarter with nearly $1.2 billion in cash and short-term investments. Backed by recent customer momentum, Aurora is already fully allocated to exit the year with 200 driverless trucks in operation and is in negotiations with a number of customers for its Driver as a Service business model for 2027 and beyond. The company will host a business review conference call today, July 29, at 5:00 p.m. Eastern time. The conference call will be webcast on Aurora's investor relations website at ir.aurora.tech, and an accompanying presentation has also been posted to the website. A replay of the webcast will be available for 30 days following the call. About Aurora Aurora (Nasdaq: AUR) is delivering the benefits of self-driving technology safely, quickly, and broadly to make transportation safer, increasingly accessible, and more reliable and efficient than ever before. The Aurora Driver is a self-driving system designed to operate multiple vehicle types, from freight-hauling trucks to ride-hailing passenger vehicles, and underpins Aurora’s driver as a service product for trucking. Aurora is working with industry leaders across the transportation ecosystem, including AUMOVIO, FedEx, Hirschbach, McLane, NVIDIA, PACCAR, Ryder, Schneider, Toyota, Uber, Uber Freight, Volvo Trucks, Volvo Autonomous Solutions, and Werner. To learn more, visit aurora.tech. Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements This press release contains certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws. All statements contained in this press release that do not relate to matters of historical fact should be considered forward-looking statements, including but not limited to, statements regarding the prospects of the development, manufacturing, scaling (including, but not limited to, the route expansion strategy, the transition to our DaaS model, fleet size, fleet ownership, and our product’s availability and capabilities) and commercialization, and realization of the potential benefits, of the Aurora Driver and related services and technology; our ability to meet customer demand, reduce costs and scale production; the safety benefits of our technology and product; the relationships and anticipated benefits with customers and partners (including, but not limited to, risks that anticipated customer orders may not materialize, may be delayed, and/or customer contracts may be subject to cancellation, termination, or reduction in scope, and whether customer intentions to order result in binding agreements and orders); the timing for developing, and the anticipated benefits of, future generations of hardware, and the anticipated timing of our partners’ driverless operations powered by the Aurora Driver; the anticipated impact of our product on the freight industry and economy; the regulatory framework in which we operate and our ability to comply with current and future regulatory requirements and to expand into new markets, including California; and our financial performance, guidance, anticipated investment in truck fleet and expected cash use and cash runway. These statements are based on management’s current assumptions and are neither promises nor guarantees, but involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other important factors that may cause our actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. For factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements in this press release, please see the risks and uncertainties identified under the heading "Risk Factors" section of Aurora Innovation, Inc.’s ("Aurora") Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2025, filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") on February 11, 2026, and other documents filed by Aurora from time to time with the SEC, which are accessible on the SEC website at www.sec.gov. Additional information will also be set forth in Aurora’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2026. All forward-looking statements reflect our beliefs and assumptions only as of the date of this press release. Aurora undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements to reflect future events or circumstances, except as required by law. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260729316480/en/ Contacts Media:Rachel [email protected] Investor Relations:Stacy [email protected]

Interested in Aurora Innovation, Inc.? Here are five stocks we like better. Aurora is entering its commercial scaling phase for driverless trucking, with agreements from Charger Logistics and Value Truck and plans to operate more than 200 driverless trucks by year-end. The company reported nearly 440,000 driverless miles with 100% on-time performance and no Aurora Driver-attributed collisions, while expanding its network and testing fueling and way-station operations. Aurora reaffirmed its 2026 revenue outlook of $14 million to $16 million and ended the quarter with nearly $1.2 billion in cash and short-term investments, despite a $266 million operating loss and approximately $225 million in operating cash use. Top 5 AI & Autonomy Stocks Trading Under $15 With Big Potential Aurora Innovation (NASDAQ:AUR) said its second-quarter business review marked the beginning of its commercial scaling phase for driverless trucking, citing new customer agreements, the launch of its second-generation Aurora Driver platform and plans to operate 200 driverless trucks by year-end. Chief Executive Officer and co-founder Chris Urmson said Aurora has launched a new fleet of driverless trucks based on the International LT Series and introduced Aurora Driver 2, which combines new software, second-generation commercial hardware and the truck platform. The company said it is fully allocated to exit 2026 with 200 driverless trucks in operation and is negotiating with prospective Driver-as-a-Service customers for 2027 and beyond. → This Tiny AI Supplier Could Be More Important Than the Chipmakers 3 High-Risk, High-Reward Stocks With Explosive Upside Aurora said it recently executed Transportation-as-a-Service agreements with Charger Logistics and Value Truck. Charger Logistics plans to use Aurora Driver-powered trucks to add capacity and improve utilization on the Dallas-to-Laredo route. Value Truck initially plans to use the technology on Dallas-to-Laredo and Fort Worth-to-Phoenix corridors. The company also expanded operations with Volvo Autonomous Solutions, which launched commercial freight service using the Aurora Driver for DSV and AVI-SPL. Urmson said each new customer can act as a “pipeline multiplier” as logistics providers gain confidence in autonomous trucking. → Refiner Stocks Are Near Record Highs—Can Iran-Driven Margins Keep Them There? NVIDIA Deal Ignites Aurora Stock’s Explosive Potential Since launching driverless operations, Aurora said its trucks completed nearly 440,000 driverless miles through the end of June, with 100% on-time performance and no Aurora Driver-attributed collisions. The company expects driverless mileage to accelerate as additional trucks enter service. Aurora also began driverless operations for Detmar Logistics between a Midland, Texas, facility and a Capital Sand mining site in Monahans, Texas. The deployment involved validating a frac sand trailer with what the company described as minimal integration work. → Innovative ETF Strategies That Are Paying Off This Summer To support longer operations, Aurora has begun supervised testing of way-station navigation and on-route fueling. In current truck-stop pilots, personnel fuel trucks while the Aurora Driver navigates into and out of fuel islands. The company said it expects truck-stop staff eventually to use automated arrival notifications to secure, fuel and release autonomous trucks. Urmson said Aurora Driver 2’s second-generation hardware kit is engineered for 1 million miles of operation and is intended to improve uptime and reliability. The company expects the system to reduce Aurora Driver hardware costs by more than 50%, supporting its gross-margin objectives. The hardware includes a more efficient computer and an extended 1-kilometer range for Aurora’s FirstLight frequency-modulated continuous-wave lidar. Aurora said the range provides more than 34 seconds of reaction time at highway speeds. Aurora expects to have 20 to 25 driverless International trucks in operation by the end of the third quarter. Its upfitting partner, Roush, has begun manufacturing at a dedicated Aurora facility, with Aurora expecting Roush to reach an annual production run rate of 1,000 trucks in October. By year-end, Aurora expects its operating fleet to consist of International and Volvo trucks, while it phases out Peterbilt trucks that had been used with first-generation hardware. Aurora expects to reintroduce Peterbilt vehicles with its third-generation hardware in the future. Volvo Autonomous Solutions plans to begin driverless operations of Volvo VNL Autonomous trucks powered by the Aurora Driver in the first quarter of 2027, Aurora said. Volvo has said it expects to exit 2027 with more than 300 driverless trucks and projects $3 billion in autonomous revenue within five years, according to Urmson. Aurora is also working with AUMOVIO on third-generation hardware intended to support tens of thousands of trucks, with planned production beginning in the second half of 2027. Separately, PACCAR and Aurora are defining a path to integrate the third-generation kit into PACCAR’s future autonomy-enabled truck platform. Urmson said California has joined other states in permitting deployment of driverless trucks, and Aurora has submitted an application to begin required driver testing in the state. At the federal level, he highlighted the U.S. House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee’s 62-to-2 approval in May of the BUILD America 250 Act, which includes a framework for nationwide autonomous-truck deployment. The CEO also described a recent development-mission collision in Fort Worth involving an Aurora truck operating in manual mode. The truck was driven by a vehicle operator and the Aurora Driver system was not engaged, he said. Another vehicle entered an intersection against a red light and collided with the truck. No serious injuries were reported, though both vehicles sustained significant damage. Aurora said its subsequent log review and simulation found that the Aurora Driver detected the red-light-running vehicle nearly six seconds before the collision and would have slowed to avoid the incident despite having the right of way. Chief Financial Officer David Maday said second-quarter revenue totaled $2 million from driverless and vehicle-operator-supervised commercial loads. Aurora reported an operating loss of $266 million, including $60 million of stock-based compensation. Research and development expense, excluding stock-based compensation: $164 million Selling, general and administrative expense, excluding stock-based compensation: $37 million Cost of revenue, excluding stock-based compensation: $7 million Operating cash use: approximately $225 million Capital expenditures: $31 million Aurora issued 30 million Class A shares through its at-the-market program during the quarter, generating $215 million in net proceeds. The company ended the period with nearly $1.2 billion in cash and short-term investments. The company reaffirmed its expectation for 2026 revenue of $14 million to $16 million, with more than half of annual revenue expected in the fourth quarter as the new fleet scales. Aurora expects its year-end fleet of more than 200 driverless trucks to represent an approximately $80 million Transportation-as-a-Service revenue run rate. Maday said Aurora expects average quarterly cash use of approximately $190 million to $220 million during 2026, including about $150 million of full-year capital expenditures, primarily related to its capacity plan. The company expects its Driver-as-a-Service model to begin in 2027, though it anticipates a customer-by-customer transition from Transportation-as-a-Service rather than an immediate change at the start of the year. Aurora Innovation, Inc is a technology company specializing in the development of self-driving vehicle systems for both passenger and commercial applications. Headquartered in Mountain View, California, Aurora has built an end-to-end platform—known as the Aurora Driver—that integrates proprietary software, machine learning algorithms and a suite of sensors (LiDAR, radar and cameras) to enable vehicles to operate safely and efficiently in diverse driving environments. The company's core business revolves around designing, testing and deploying its autonomy stack on vehicles from established automotive and transportation partners. This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to [email protected]. The article "Aurora Innovation Q2 Earnings Call Highlights" was originally published by MarketBeat. 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Aurora has partnered with Roush, a Michigan-based engineering, manufacturing, and product development firm, to install its technology into the new trucks. The company said its Aurora Driver driving system has completed nearly 440,000 driverless miles at the end of June. For Q2, Fiscal AI has polled consensus estimates of $1.7 million in revenue and a loss per share of $0.12. Shares of Aurora Innovation (AUR) caught significant investor attention on Wednesday after the company announced a new fleet of driverless trucks ahead of reporting its earnings next week. As of the writing, AUR stock was up nearly 6% and was among the top ten trending tickers on Stocktwits. See what 10M+ investors are talking about. Get the Stocktwits Daily Rip for what retail is watching right now, free to your inbox Following the success of its debut fleet, Aurora plans to deploy hundreds of second-generation driverless trucks across its ten operating routes, which are concentrated in the U.S. Sun Belt. “Last year’s driverless launch proved our technology could operate safely on public roads – our new platform now provides the foundation to deliver at scale,” said Chris Urmson, CEO and co-founder of Aurora. Autonomous transportation technology is gaining popularity in the United States, with the rise of robotaxis and unmanned eVTOL aircraft, and its use case in the logistics industry is actively being explored to save on costs. The company’s latest truck fleet will be based on the LT Series vehicle by International Trucks (formerly Navistar). Aurora has partnered with Roush, a Michigan-based engineering, manufacturing, and product development firm, to install its technology into the trucks at the company’s production facility. Aurora expects Roush to reach an annual production run-rate of 1,000 trucks later this year as part of an upfit process the companies have agreed to. The latest update comes ahead of the second quarter (Q2) results expected on July 29. For Q2, Fiscal AI has polled consensus estimates of $1.7 million in revenue and a loss per share of $0.12. The company also said its Aurora Driver driving system has completed nearly 440,000 driverless miles at the end of June, and it is seeing an uptick in commercial use for its fleet as it continues expanding its driverless route networks. On Stocktwits, retail sentiment about AUR turned ‘bullish’ from ‘neutral’ over the last 24 hours. One user on the platform views the announcement as an important catalyst for the momentum expected down the line. AUR stock has surged more than 73% so far this year, outperforming the benchmark S&P index. For updates and corrections, email newsroom[at]stocktwits[dot]com Ahmed Farhath has no position in any of the stocks mentioned in this article. StockTwits' news team content is for informational purposes only and is not intended as investment advice. For more, see our editorial policy. This article was originally published on StockTwits. Related: Nasdaq, S&P 500, Dow Futures Edge Higher, Brushing Off Fresh US-Iran Clashes As Earnings Take Center Stage: TSLA, NOW, GOOGL, NOK In Focus ASTS Stock Eyes Weekly Comeback: AT&T Says AST SpaceMobile Satellite Offering Will 'Come To Fruition' Next Year SPCX Gains After Hours Ahead Of Upcoming Starship Test Flight— Tesla Books $1B SpaceX Gain

Image source: The Motley Fool. Wednesday, May 6, 2026 at 5 p.m. ET Chief Executive Officer — Christopher Urmson Chief Financial Officer — David Maday Need a quote from a Motley Fool analyst? Email [email protected] Chris will provide an update on the progress we have made across the key pillars of our business, and David will recap our first quarter financial results. We will then open the call to Q&A. A recording of this conference call will be available on our Investor Relations website at ir.aurora.tech, shortly after this call has ended. I'd like to take this opportunity to remind you that during the call, we will be making forward-looking statements. These statements are subject to known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed, projected or implied during this call. In particular, those described in our risk factors included in our annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2025, and other documents filed with the SEC as well as the current uncertainty and unpredictability in our business, the markets and economy. Additional information will also be set forth in our quarterly report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2026. You should not rely on our forward-looking statements as predictions of future events. All forward-looking statements that we make on this call are based on assumptions and beliefs as of the date hereof, and Aurora disclaims any obligation to update any forward-looking statements except as required by law. Our discussion today may include non-GAAP financial measures. These non-GAAP measures should be considered in addition to and not as a substitute for or in isolation from our GAAP results. Information regarding our non-GAAP financial results, including a reconciliation of our historical GAAP to non-GAAP results, may be found in our shareholder letter, which was furnished with our Form 8-K filed today with the SEC and may also be found on our Investor Relations website. Our discussion today may also include reference to forward-looking free cash flow, a non-GAAP financial measure. To the extent that these forward-looking financial measure is provided, it is presented on a non-GAAP basis without a reconciliation due to the inherent difficulty in forecasting and quantifying certain amounts that are necessary for such reconciliation. With that, I'll now turn the call over to Chris. Christopher Urmson: Thanks, Stacy. 2026 is the year Aurora begins to scale. Our strategic investments are fueling the momentum necessary to accelerate our growth and extend our lead in autonomous trucking market. The start of this year has been a period of disciplined transition a deliberate buildup before the inflection. Drawing on our deep experience, safely integrating the Aurora Driver across multiple platforms. We're on the cusp of launching our second-generation commercial hardware kit on a new fleet of driverless trucks. This program positions us to exit the year with over 200 driverless trucks in operation across the Sunbelt and supports our broader scaling ambitions in 2027 and beyond. In preparation for this imminent launch, our forthcoming software release and commercial hardware kit are engineered specifically to deliver the reliability required as we scale our fleet. This progress is driving significant commercial momentum. In addition to the Transportation as a Service commitments we already have in place with Hirschbach we announced last week that they have selected Aurora to scale their autonomous fleet with intent to own and operate 500 trucks through our Driver-as-a-Service business model. We expect to finalize the definitive agreement, which represents a potential multiyear revenue stream in the hundreds of millions of dollars later this year with truck delivery slated to begin in 2027. As we prepare to scale, we're seeing continued regulatory momentum with landmark progress at the state level. California has reached a watershed moment, joining the vast majority of states in enabling autonomous trucking. We now project a serviceable, addressable market of 60 billion vehicle miles traveled by 2028. And excitingly, California supports a seamless coast-to-coast operating environment. With the Aurora Driver now sufficiently generalized for us to begin scaling across the Sunbelt aligned with customer demand, we strategically focused our resources on 3 key initiatives: expanding our driverless network, finalizing our latest software release and validating our second-generation commercial hardware kit. These efforts serve as the critical final steps in preparing for the imminent launch of our new driverless truck fleet transitioning Aurora from a phase of localized operations to one of wide-scale industrial deployment. Our expansion is progressing at an accelerated pace with our network now encompassing 12 distinct routes. At the end of March, we validated driverless operations on the bidirectional route between Dallas and Laredo within just 6 weeks of initiating supervised autonomous runs. Building on this momentum, we also opened new bidirectional routes between Dallas and Oklahoma City. In collaboration with Volvo Autonomous Solutions, we have started supervised autonomous deliveries on this route to support one of their key customers. Furthermore, we've expanded our driverless cohort to 7 customers, including transitioning commercial loads with [ McLean ] to driverless operations. Our forthcoming software release further increases the Aurora Driver's reliability in preparation for scaling, including validation of driverless operations in more severe rain as well as the full spectrum of complex construction scenarios on our highway routes. To complement these advancements, we are augmenting our driverless network to support real-time dynamic rerouting, providing the operational agility required for high-volume commercial service. We're also in the process of validating our second-generation commercial hardware kit on multiple truck platforms through rigorous on-road, track and lab testing to prepare for our planned second quarter launch and are seeing impressive performance. Designed for 1 million miles of operation and with enhanced sensor cleaning capabilities, this kit meaningfully increases the Aurora Driver's reliability. It also brings exciting performance gains including a more efficient computer and an extended 1-kilometer range for FirstLight, our proprietary long-range FMCW lidar. This is double the range of the closest FMCW lidar competitor and can give the Aurora Driver more than 34 seconds to react when at highway speeds, setting a new superhuman standard for safety. And importantly, we expect this kit to drive a 50-plus percent reduction in Aurora Driver hardware costs, a key lever supporting our breakeven gross margin target. While advancing on these fronts, in April, the Aurora Driver surpassed 370,000 driverless miles with 100% on-time performance and 0 Aurora Driver attributed collisions. Notably, this growth was driven by a very strong utilization with a leaner active fleet. For example, the driverless trucks we are operating for Werner are already averaging 4,000-plus miles per week, which translates to an annual run rate of 225,000-plus miles per truck. With the performance we're seeing, we expect Aurora Driver powered trucks will be capable of more than doubling utilization and in turn, revenue per truck for our customers. Expanding driverless delivery to and from customers' facilities will further strengthen the Aurora Driver's value proposition. We're continuing to ready Hirschbach, Detmar and Werner for endpoint operations. including in-yard autonomous operations at their facilities. We currently expect to generate a majority of our 2026 revenue through operations between customer facilities, reflecting our continued focus on increasing commercial value. To ensure seamless end-to-end service, we recently began supervised testing of way station navigation and on-route fueling at truck stops. Navigating these environments requires many of the same advanced surface Street capabilities we have already refined. For example, on the 7-mile, the Aurora Driver navigates to and from the highway in Houston. The video on Page 8 of our presentation demonstrates the Aurora Driver's proficiency in these complex low-speed settings. To meet customer demand and support our path to scale, we've established a robust hardware and vehicle platform road map. We're closing in on the second quarter launch of our second-generation commercial hardware kit on a new fleet of trucks based on the international LT series that will enable driverless operations without an observer. With this program, we have a strong line of sight to achieving our 2026 scaling goals. We expect this to establish a powerful foundation for 2027 when we plan to launch our Driver-as-a-Service business model. Looking ahead to 2027, we've made exciting progress on our third-generation commercial hardware kit that will be manufactured by AUMOVIO. Together, we started testing initial units. Our engineering team is also working with AUMOVIO and NVIDIA to develop a first-of-its-kind Super Thor compute configuration an architecture that integrates 2 NVIDIA DRIVE for SoCs into a unified platform optimized to power the Aurora Driver at scale. This approach demonstrates our 3-way collaboration is setting the standard for industrializing autonomous technology. In March, AUMOVIO broke ground on their -- the expansion of their new Brownfields, Texas facility where they will produce our third-generation hardware kit intended to supply tens of thousands of trucks. Construction of the plant's expansion is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2027. With start of production for the hardware kits on track to begin in the second half of 2027. Volvo plans to build hundreds of the Volvo VNL autonomous trucks in 2027 and has already completed several Aurora Driver powered trucks on their pilot line. For the program based on the International LT truck, our upfitter, Roush, will begin scale production later this year. We're initially establishing the capacity to produce 1,000 trucks per year with potential to increase that capacity. Concurrently, PACCAR and Aurora are jointly defining the path to scalable launch on the third-generation Aurora Driver commercial hardware kit integrated with PACCAR's future autonomy enabled platform. All of this work is forging the industrial engine that extends our leadership position and supports commercial deployment at significant scale. At Aurora, we're building a safer, stronger and more resilient freight ecosystem with our technology for the people who power it. To back this vision, we recently announced Aurora Works. Our commitment to invest in workforce development by establishing educational partnerships and technical training for emerging roles in autonomous trucking. We're at the center of a new era of logistics that improves road safety, fuels economic growth and creates new high-skilled American jobs. Autonomous freight represents a step change for what is possible in global logistics. The Aurora Driver moves the industry beyond traditional constraints toward a world of continuous high utilization delivery. With a clear road map, deep partnerships and an accelerating industrial engine, we are well positioned to lead this evolution. The future of freight is on the road and Aurora is setting the pace. With that, I'll now pass it over to Dave, who will review our financial results. David Maday: Thank you, Chris. Now let's review our financial results for which we have provided a summary on Page 15 of the slide deck for reference. First quarter 2026 revenue totaled $1 million across driverless and vehicle operator supervised commercial loads. Despite leveraging our shared fleet for continued development of new routes and validation of our second-generation commercial hardware kit, the Aurora Driver achieved another record number of commercial miles during the quarter which drove a 10% sequential increase in revenue from the fourth quarter of 2025. First quarter operating loss, including stock-based compensation, totaled $244 million, excluding stock-based compensation of $46 million, R&D totaled $159 million, SG&A was $34 million, and cost of revenue was $6 million. We used approximately $159 million in operating cash during the first quarter of 2026, and capital expenditures totaled $25 million. As planned, this cash spend was below our externally communicated quarterly average target. We expect the second quarter cash spend to be above the target range due to the timing of our cash bonus payout which, as we discussed last quarter, we plan to fund with our at-the-market program. We ended the quarter with a very strong balance sheet, including liquidity of nearly $1.3 billion in cash and short-term and long-term investments. During the first quarter, we generated net proceeds of $14 million from the issuance of Class A common stock through our at-the-market program which we used to fund the tax liability associated with vesting of employee restricted stock units during the quarter. We continue to expect 2026 revenue of $14 million to $16 million up 400% year-over-year at the midpoint. Revenue will be back-end loaded with the fourth quarter projected to contribute over half of full year revenue. as we scale driverless operations following the launch of our new fleet. We anticipate exiting the year with more than 200 driverless trucks in operation. which translates to approximately $80 million in revenue on a run rate basis for our Transportation-as-a-Service business. This establishes a powerful foundation for 2027 when we expect the core Driver-as-a-Service model to commence. To support our scaling plan, we continue to expect quarterly cash use of approximately $190 million to $220 million on average throughout 2026. This includes approximately $150 million in anticipated full year capital expenditures, primarily attributed to our capacity plan. We continue to expect 2026 to represent peak capital spend and capital expenditures declining significantly in 2027 as we transition to our Driver-as-a-Service model and Hardware-as-a-Service structure with AUMOVIO. Our first quarter performance reflects the focused execution and disciplined transition that will define Aurora in 2026. We continue to balance prudent resource management with the strategic investments needed to support large-scale industrial deployment. With that, we will now open the call to Q&A. Operator: [Operator Instructions]. Our first question is from George Gianarikas with Canaccord Genuity. George Gianarikas: So maybe first, in light of the growing commercial momentum that you're seeing, have you seen any meaningful acceleration in inbound interest from prospective fleet partners? And also as you're beginning to scale, how are you navigating price discovery? Has there been any resistance from customers regarding the per mile rate or is the value currently offsetting any cost concerns? Christopher Urmson: Yes. Thanks, George. I appreciate the question. We continue to have really exciting conversations with various customers. We've talked in the past about each time we got to check off progress. We see it become more real in the eyes of customers, and that leads to an increase in the conversations we have. We've got an exciting funnel and we'll share more as we can -- as we get through that. I don't think we can talk specifically about pricing on this. Obviously, there's a lot of competitive elements around that. But we have very fruitful conversations with folks. Of course, they want to pay nothing for it, and we'd like to charge them more for it. So every one of those conversations is, of course, the negotiation. I don't know, David, if you'd add more? David Maday: Yes. I think the customers themselves have been giving us really good and direct feedback. At the end of the day, the value proposition that we're discussing has still resonated quite well. You're going to argue a little bit about the fringes, but the growing cost drivers is undeniable, the indirect costs associated with it. And fuel costs are really high right now. We're providing a 15% reduction on that. That translates to real dollars, right? That's roughly $0.15, $0.16 per mile in today's marketplace. So the value proposition does resonate quite well, and we're confident that we're going to be able to grow the business and achieve our profit objectives. George Gianarikas: And maybe as a follow-up, given your recent autonomous haul, are you encountering any technical bottlenecks as you transition from pilot to more of a consistent operational cadence? And how have your engineering teams mitigated any constraints that have been out there in the system? Christopher Urmson: Yes. There's nothing that we're seeing that's particularly surprising. It's stuff that's been in our road map for a while. So we're continuing to improve that. This new release that is going to land with the second-generation hardware really is about making sure that we have a robust platform that's reliable and meets customer needs, increasing the amount of rain we can handle dealing with more complicated construction that we need to deal with on freeways. That's the kind of thing that's going to set us up to be able to scale really well. Operator: Our next question is from Scott Group with Wolfe Research. Scott Group: So a couple of things. Relative to the target of 200 trucks by the end of the year, how many are in operation today? And then separately on the Hirschbach MOU. Just hoping for a little bit more color, like what needs to happen to convert this from an MOU to a committed contract? And do you have any color on how many of those 500 trucks you expect to deliver in '27? And how long do you think it takes to get to the full 500? Christopher Urmson: Yes. So on the 200 trucks, when we talk about 200 trucks, we're talking about driverless trucks operating by the end of the year. Today, we're running about a handful of them. Of the vehicles that will make up those 200 trucks that are operating driverlessly, I think we own 25 of them now, and they're in various stages of upfit and preparation. So that's kind of where we stand on getting to those 200 trucks over the course of the year. We expect -- we're doing work in Q2 to prepare Roush to scale, and they'll really start scaling getting towards that 20 trucks per week production rate in Q3. With Hirschbach, I don't know there's a whole lot we can share there. We're really excited about there have been one of our longest-term partners and customers. And to George's question earlier about the value customers see. You don't get a company like Hirschbach, signing up for an MOU unless they see real opportunity for it to complement the drivers they have in their fleet today. It's a 500 truck deal over 27 and 28 is our expectation. We expect it to turn into hundreds of millions of miles and hundreds of millions of dollars of revenue. So and we expect to get to closure on that this year. David Maday: Yes. And Scott, one other thing on the 200 trucks, just so there's no confusion. We already have commitment and order slots for the entire 200 trucks. So there is no question about the truck availability. It's just when we bring them into start the upfit process, and we build out our capacity plan. Scott Group: Okay. Great. And then last couple of things, David, do you -- I think you talked about last quarter, if you get to the $80 million run rate of revenue, that will be gross profit breakeven. Is that still the case? And then on the California front, when do you expect to start operations there? David Maday: Well, relative to the gross profit breakeven, that is still our target for sure. The $80 million is one element of that. There are some things that we need to do on the cost side of that equation which are equally as important, which is part of our plan. And so we're still targeting it. It's not formal guidance, but we are targeting it, and we are going to be working really hard to be able to achieve that target. I'll let Chris talk a little bit about California. Christopher Urmson: For California, first, we're really excited that California has taken a step forward of this. We've been in conversation with them literally for years, and we're just excited to see kind of put out the regulations and give us certainty on how we can start to build our business there. We don't have set time for when we'll begin operating in California. We have to go through the permitting process with them to do that but the team is already working on that, and we'll share more when we can. Operator: Our next question is from Ravi Shanker with Morgan Stanley. Ravi Shanker: Chris, you said in your letter that you and PACCAR are jointly defining the path to scalable launch on their assembly lines. Do you have an understanding? And if so, can you tell us kind of what this path looks like from a catalyst or a timing standpoint? Christopher Urmson: Yes. I can't share timing, of course. What I can share is that we're aligning around the third-generation platform that -- or hardware kit from Aurora that we're working with AUMOVIO on. We've shared in the past that we expect that to come into production in the back half of '27. And so we continue to have conversations with PACCAR. We continue to work with them closely and look forward to offering customers who'd like to have the Aurora Driver on a Peterbilt that option. Ravi Shanker: Okay. Understood. And maybe kind of on a different topic. Obviously, truck rates appear to be going up quite meaningfully. There are some who think we may be on the cusp of a generational upcycle here. Are you seeing any increased interest from customers or carriers who may be concerned about a driver shortage? And is this an opportunity for you to maybe revise your pricing strategy? Or are you just selling this as, hey, there's more savings for your customers if they switch to autonomous in the next few years? Christopher Urmson: Yes. So I'll say that first. I'm not savvy enough to predict exactly what will happen with the market here, but it does feel like there's a lot of factors that are contributing to what will be increased freight rates going forward. We're really focused on delivering value to our customers. We ultimately expect to get paid for that value. And so if we're contributing more value, we'll ultimately expect to be compensated for that. But right now, we're focused on making sure that the folks who've been with us as partners and customers and get an opportunity to benefit from that and build their business. So I don't know, Dave, anything you'd add? Ravi Shanker: No, I think that's right. I will say that the interest has been picking up a lot over the last 6 months, frankly. The number of inbounds that we're getting has been just increasing dramatically, Ravi. So we're very excited about that. Part of it is just we're out there and people can see and experience it more than they've ever had before. Part of it is the market is starting to have some positive signs that feel like they're more sustainable and that has people more interested in thinking about their long term. I think from the pricing side, the one thing that I would say is we believe that the pricing at that $0.85 plus kind of range will enable us to be very successful. And it will support broad scale adoption for our customers. And I think we look at it not so much as how would we maximize that next quarter. And I think about it as how will we build the plan for the next several years. And we want to make sure that we have as equally as much of that long-term focus and support for customer adoption as we can. Operator: Our next question is from Chris Pierce with Needham & Company. Christopher Pierce: I just want to -- if you guys could shed some light, if you talked about Hirschbach, what are they seeing -- are they seeing something different in terms of absolute number of miles driven? Or is it just a unique decision on their end that sort of has them pull the trigger to move from a trial to a truck order. And I guess, do you have other partners that you've been working with over time that are similar miles or that it just sort of come down to a unique decision on their end? I just kind of want to get a sense of what helped them over the -- get over the edge. Christopher Urmson: I think first, it's important to recognize that there's a distribution of customers, right? There's going to be folks who are first movers and there's going to be others who are fast followers. Hirschbach has had a lot of experience with us. The leadership team there. We've been able to build trust with over time. And so we're excited for them to pull the trigger. We do expect others will follow. And we'll just continue to demonstrate value. And frankly, right now, we're pretty supply constrained, and we look forward to unlocking that supply over the course of this year and certainly in '27 as we bring the AUMOVIO hardware kit online. David Maday: The other thing that I would add on Hirschbach, they have been with us for quite some time. And they don't look at this just as a business decision. They are really looking at this -- in their words, the quality of life investment for their people, right? This is to help support their people and get them to the routes in the working environment that will improve their quality of life while we handle the "less desirable", the longer haul routes that keep you away very far. So they've been very forward-leaning on thinking about their drivers, long-term quality of life. And so I think that's something that's very important to them. And certainly, they care a lot about their drivers. Christopher Pierce: Yes. Okay. And then just one for Dave. In your -- from the desk of the CFO. You talked about in the last time about peak CapEx. I just want to understand definitionally, I mean, I don't think of you guys as a heavy CapEx company. I think of you as a heavy R&D company. Are we saying that '27 is we're close to peak R&D and R&D comes down? I just want to make sure I'm understanding what line item on the model and what statement to look at? David Maday: No, I think we have said many times, we're a capital efficient or a capital-light business, right? And as a Transportation-as-a-Service business to start, you actually have a little bit more capital than what we believe is going to be our steady state long-term capital. So we do expect our CapEx to go down. Our R&D investments, certainly, that's a larger percentage of our overall expenditures. We are continuing to invest in our R&D to capitalize on the lead continue to build that advantage, make the Aurora Driver available everywhere. And so we kind of look at that as more of a steady state kind of number for the foreseeable quarters, whereas we think the CapEx will start to drop down substantially in 2027. Operator: Our next question is from Colin Rusch with Oppenheimer & Company. Colin Rusch: We've done a very judicious job of waiting to scale until you guys were ready. And now as you move into this next stage of the organization, I'm just curious about how you think about pacing of the scale-up because certainly, demand isn't going to be an issue, but maintaining quality as you move into these higher volumes is critical. So I just want to think about how you're managing that, how you're managing supply chain to meet those specs, and how you might end up diversifying some of the supply chain to enable a little bit more resilient supply as you go forward? Christopher Urmson: Yes. And that's really aligned with our long-term strategy that we've talked about for several years. So thanks for the question. as we went from the initial vehicles that we launched trials with last year, that was hardware that we had built in-house. We had sourced all in-house. As we move to the second generation of hardware, there we're leveraging Fabrinet, the experience they have, the quality process they have layering on top of that, our quality and sourcing support. So we feel good about that. And then, of course, as we move to the back half of '27 when we expect the hardware kit that we're developing with AUMOVIO to come to life there, of course, we're leaning into AUMOVIO and the strength that they have in managing their supply chain and managing quality being a true scale automotive supplier. And so that's kind of -- as you think about the hardware side of it, that's how we're building that supply chain system. When it comes to the software that operates on board, that's been a core part of how we've thought about this is how do we ensure that the software will generalize safely over time. It's what leads us to do as much work as we do in testing and validation. And it's why we've said from day 1 that safety has to be first. And so we've ingrained that into the organization over the better part of a decade at this point. and that leads to process that we think will scale and ultimately drive safe and reliable outcomes for our customers. Colin Rusch: And then as you guys prioritize ODDs, I'm curious about how much input you're getting from your customers at this point? Or if you're at a place now where you're just really driving capabilities and then selling it to them, are there priorities that they have that can impact some of the sequencing and focus areas for you on an R&D perspective? Christopher Urmson: That's a great question. We continue to want to learn as much as we possibly can from our partners and understand what the source of demand is and where it's most useful for them. Dave talked about Hirschbach focus on supporting their employees and what does that translate into places that are useful for us to drive for them. So in terms of the capabilities of the driver, the Aurora Driver has to have -- we do learn some from our customers, but that we kind of infer ourselves, but where we need to go operate, which lanes we should be opening, that is very much almost purely driven by customer demand. Operator: Our next question is from David Vernon with Bernstein. David Vernon: The first question for you, Dave. I noticed the language around sufficient liquidity to get to positive free cash flow in 2028 that was in the 4Q letter, it's not in a 1Q letter. Is that -- was that purposeful? Was that just -- it's still on plan? Can you give a kind of comment what the status is on that cash flow breakeven by 2028? David Maday: Yes, it's still our plan. We believe that we have sufficient liquidity. Nothing has changed in that to get us to a positive free cash flow. David Vernon: Okay. And then maybe the 4,000 miles per truck per week that you guys are quoting on the utilization that you're getting out of Werner. Is that the right number to use in terms of a run rate assumption to underpin the $80 million sort of half exit run rate? And then I guess the follow-on to that would be if that turns in to be the right sort of revenue per mile-ish range. How does the DAS thing compare? Is it half? Is it 3/4? Anything you can give us relatively on what we should be thinking about plugging into a model around on the DaaS or the DaaS rate would be helpful. David Maday: Yes. I think for the mileage, I think that's really going to vary based on the customer use cases. But we're very confident in our ability to achieve double utilization, and it is really going to depend on which Roush they put them on and the load frequency that they have. But certainly, we think this 250,000-mile range is still a very good source. We've used that several years ago, and we still think that, that's a good target that any customer can achieve. So we think that's probably good there. In terms of the pricing dynamics, I can't get into too many specifics without kind of comparing individual customers. But what I can tell you is the information that we shared before, relative to anywhere from $1.50 to $2 a mile for TaaS plus fuel surcharge. And then on the Driver-as-a-Service, again, our indicative thing, pricing is about $0.85. So again, we think that, that's a pretty good mix. And so you can kind of do the math from there. Thanks, David. Operator: Our next question is from [ John Sager ] with Evercore ISI. Unknown Analyst: I hate to continue to dig into the numbers a little bit. But to get to sort of $15 million of revenue, so you're charging somewhere around $2 per mile. And then if I'm backing into gross margin breakeven, that means that your cost is something like $1 per mile to operate. Is that a fair way of thinking about it? I'm just trying to figure out how to track your progress with that. David Maday: Yes, no problem. Like our cost of goods sold is the measurement that we're looking at for our gross margin. So you will see if revenue is about $2. That's our target for our cost of goods sold. It is about $2 a mile. That will obviously change when we go to the Driver-as-a-Service. You got to remember in our current Transportation-as-a-Service business model, it's not just the cost of being able to deploy the Aurora Driver. It's the cost of purchasing the trucks, financing the hardware and a lot of other fuel costs terminal. So I think you'll see us really targeting roughly that $2 a mile for a breakeven target. Unknown Analyst: Okay. Perfect. And then as we look out into 2027, at what point do you make that transition to the point where the customers own the trucks? And like when is -- can you give us any sense of timing on that? Is it does it all happen at once? Or is this sort of a customer by customer? David Maday: Yes. It's not a hard line. We will start the process in 2027 and then it will really be customer-by-customer specific. I would also point out that we will still have transportation as a service trucks operating for several years. even with customers who have signed up for additional Driver-as-a-Service contract. So we're going to continue to utilize a small fleet of Transportation-as-a-Service trucks for its life, and then we will kind of just build upon that going forward. So we do expect, again, some general starting -- we will start in 2027. But there's no hard line of when it will exactly start. We're not making some fundamental shift. We will only do Driver-as-a-Service going forward. Again, it's important for our customers to support the adoption to be able to see and experience the Aurora Driver in a scenario where they don't have to make huge investments until they've seen the product work and provide value to them. Christopher Urmson: That is something that I think will evolve over time, right? Today, we're going to be the only provider, first provider of this technology in market. And so I think there's going to be more customer education and the Transportation-as-a-Service as Dave said, allows us to have this low friction way for them to get introduced, get used to it. But what we do see is that as customers get used to it, they believe in their -- the value they provide in owning, operating, maintaining using these trucks efficiently. And that's a confidence that we don't think that's core to Aurora. And so we see customers excited to take that on, and we look forward to it. Operator: Our next question is from Mark Delaney with Goldman Sachs. Mark Delaney: Nice to see the improved new rollouts to new locations. So thanks for all the updates on that. Chris, I was hoping to get your latest thoughts on AI technology and any new innovations that Aurora is looking at one thing that's had more discussion in the investment community and tech community recently has been world models, but curious whether it's that or other newer technologies that you're observing and anything that could be impactful for Aurora? Christopher Urmson: No. We continue to pay attention to what's happening outside. We're excited about the models that we're building at Aurora. We continue to be deep believers in verifiable AI. The idea that you would trust 1 of these giant trucks driving down the road with something where you just kind of hope the output is the right thing given the input. It just doesn't make sense. And so we continue to look for ways we can bring those ideas in and fuse them with our approach to ensuring that we can deliver a safe vehicle on the road. Mark Delaney: Understood. My other question was around the planned start of operations without a driver this quarter. Maybe just speak a bit more, if you could please around what still needs to happen for that to materialize? Is it additional testing and validation or anything else that may still be left in order to meet that time line? Christopher Urmson: Yes. It's really imminent. We're excited about the progress we're making. It's predominantly testing a validation at this point. So we're continuing to look forward to having them on the road in Q2. Operator: Our next question is from Ken Hoexter with Bank of America. Ken Hoexter: Great. Chris and Dave, earlier, you talked about some of the new routes going from Dallas to Laredo, Dallas, Oklahoma City. So for the 200 trucks by year-end, can you talk about how many total lanes would that encompass kind of what's the expansion target? And then how many different customers are part of that 200 trucks? Are you focused on the existing customers? You start talking about new stickers on the trucks. Christopher Urmson: Yes. So for the second question, first, we expect there to be many new stickers on the trucks by the end of the year. We continue to want to support and ensure that the folks who've been with us early on are able to benefit from it and grow their businesses. We appreciate the trust they put in us. But we aspire to have the Aurora Driver on every truck, ultimately. And so we're excited to have new customers come in and grow with them. On the lanes front, it's really going to be driven by customer interest and demand and where it makes sense for those customers to have the trucks operating. We expect it to span across the Sunbelt, as we have said for some time, but the specific lanes and lane count will really be dictated by that. And that's what's great is that we're moving in the direction with our ability to unlock new lanes that it's a comparatively -- the complexity and difficulty of making that happen has come down dramatically. And so we can be much more responsive and reactive to where customers want us to operate. Ken Hoexter: Great. Makes a lot of sense. If I can get a follow-up then on the routes, right? So maybe talk about how much of that is, I don't know, end-to-end versus drop and hook yards or maybe just understanding the last mile at this point. And then on the production, if you're targeting 200 or 20 trucks a week at this point by year-end, how much can that scale into '27 on both the truck manufacturing and the AUMOVIO side? Christopher Urmson: Yes. Okay. So we continue -- and maybe let me make sure we mean by end-to-end. End-to-end means going from a customer side to a customer side, generally a distribution center or some kind to a customer distributions center or terminal. We're not talking about going to the Safeway or the restaurant. And so we expect by the end of the year that the miles that we drive are predominantly going between customer endpoints. That's our expectation. We think that is the right way to deliver the product. We think it's valuable to the customer. So we're looking forward to that. And as we mentioned, we're already doing the work with customers today with Werner, Hirschbach and others at Detmar, in particular, to open up their endpoints and operate those robustly. I feel like there's a second half of your question there that I lost somewhere. I apologize. Ken Hoexter: Just the second one is just back to the production, right? So you talked about 20 trucks a week and kind of thoughts on the scalability to '27. Christopher Urmson: Yes. So we're starting by setting Roush up with the bandwidth to be able to produce 1,000 trucks a year. As we go into '27, as we see the demand for that, we can increase that scale further. And we really see this as a complement to the other programs we're running with Volvo and Peterbilt, PACCAR. So it's a third option relative to those 2. Ken Hoexter: Thanks a lot. Thanks for the time. Operator: Thank you. That is all the time we have for questions today. This concludes today's presentation. You may disconnect your lines at this time. We thank you again for your participation. 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This article is a transcript of this conference call produced for The Motley Fool. While we strive for our Foolish Best, there may be errors, omissions, or inaccuracies in this transcript. As with all our articles, The Motley Fool does not assume any responsibility for your use of this content, and we strongly encourage you to do your own research, including listening to the call yourself and reading the company's SEC filings. Please see our Terms and Conditions for additional details, including our Obligatory Capitalized Disclaimers of Liability. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Aurora (AUR) Q1 2026 Earnings Transcript was originally published by The Motley Fool

PITTSBURGH, May 06, 2026--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aurora Innovation, Inc. (NASDAQ: AUR) today announced its first quarter 2026 results. Aurora's shareholder letter and financial results are available on its investor relations website at ir.aurora.tech. "We are hitting a new gear - we are on the cusp of launching a new platform and are on track to put hundreds of driverless trucks on the road this year," said Chris Urmson, co-founder and CEO of Aurora. "We're also seeing incredible customer momentum with early adopters like Hirschbach planning for 500 Aurora Driver-powered trucks. The industry sees the value of the Aurora Driver and what it can do for their businesses." Business Highlights Next-Gen Hardware at Scale: Aurora remains on track to launch its second-generation hardware kit on the International® LT® Series vehicle, enabling driverless operations without a partner-requested observer in Q2. Aurora’s next-generation hardware is built to last for a million miles while reducing overall cost by more than half. Aurora anticipates deploying more than 200 driverless trucks by the end of the year. Scaling Driver as a Service: Aurora continues to see significant commercial demand. Notably, Hirschbach has plans to scale their autonomous fleet, with intent to own and operate 500 trucks through Aurora’s Driver as a Service (DaaS) business model. This represents a potential multi-year revenue stream in the hundreds of millions of dollars, with truck delivery slated to begin in 2027. Blue-Chip Customer Adoption: Aurora recently started driverless hauls for McLane Company, Inc., a Berkshire Hathaway subsidiary. Aurora now has seven customers within its driverless cohort. Rapid Route Expansion: Aurora validated driverless operations on the bidirectional routes between Dallas and Laredo within just six weeks of initiating supervised autonomous runs. Aurora has also opened a new bi-directional route between Dallas and Oklahoma City, where the Aurora Driver is powering supervised autonomy for a key Volvo Autonomous Solutions customer. The company will host a business review conference call today, May 6, at 5:00 p.m. Eastern time. The conference call will be webcast on Aurora's investor relations website at ir.aurora.tech, and an accompanying presentation has also been posted to the website. A replay of the webcast will be available for 30 days following the call. About Aurora Aurora (Nasdaq: AUR) is delivering the benefits of self-driving technology safely, quickly, and broadly to make transportation safer, increasingly accessible, and more reliable and efficient than ever before. The Aurora Driver is a self-driving system designed to operate multiple vehicle types, from freight-hauling trucks to ride-hailing passenger vehicles, and underpins Aurora’s driver as a service product for trucking. Aurora is working with industry leaders across the transportation ecosystem, including AUMOVIO, FedEx, Hirschbach, McLane, NVIDIA, PACCAR, Ryder, Schneider, Toyota, Uber, Uber Freight, Volvo Trucks, Volvo Autonomous Solutions, and Werner. To learn more, visit aurora.tech. Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements This press release contains certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws. All statements contained in this press release that do not relate to matters of historical fact should be considered forward-looking statements, including but not limited to, the prospects of the development, manufacturing, scaling (including, but not limited to, the lane expansion strategy, the transition to our DaaS model, fleet size, fleet ownership, and our product’s availability and capabilities) and commercialization, and realization of the potential benefits, of the Aurora Driver and related services and technology; the relationships and anticipated benefits with customers and partners (including, but not limited to, our ability to finalize and execute on customer contracts or orders, and whether customer intentions to order, such as Hirschbach’s non-binding MOU result in binding agreements and orders); the timing for developing, and the anticipated benefits of, future generations of hardware kits; the anticipated impact of our product on the freight industry and economy; and our financial performance, anticipated investment in truck fleet and expected cash use and cash runway. These statements are based on management’s current assumptions and are neither promises nor guarantees, but involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other important factors that may cause our actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. For factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements in this press release, please see the risks and uncertainties identified under the heading "Risk Factors" section of Aurora Innovation, Inc.’s ("Aurora") Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2025, filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC) on February 11, 2026, and other documents filed by Aurora from time to time with the SEC, which are accessible on the SEC website at www.sec.gov. Additional information will also be set forth in Aurora’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2026. All forward-looking statements reflect our beliefs and assumptions only as of the date of this press release. Aurora undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements to reflect future events or circumstances. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260506162229/en/ Contacts Investor Relations: Stacy Feit [email protected] Media: [email protected]