Prepared remarks
Greetings, and welcome to Aurora's Third Quarter 2025 Business Review Call. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. It is now my pleasure to introduce your host, Stacy Feit, Vice President, Investor Relations. Thank you, Stacy. You may begin.
Thank you, Alicia. Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to our third quarter 2025 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 our progress made across the key pillars of our business, and David will recap our third 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 the call. In particular, those described in our risk factors, including in our annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2024, and other documents filed with the SEC, as well as the current uncertainty and unpredictability in our business, the markets, and the economy. Additional information will also be set forth in our quarterly report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2025. 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 the 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 references 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.
Thanks, Stacy. In the third quarter and early October, Aurora achieved several more driverless trucking industry firsts, rapidly advancing our path to scale and further extending our leadership position. The crank we set in motion with the commercial launch is now accelerating, delivering compounding returns across our technology, operations, and customer adoption. Earlier this month, the Aurora Driver surpassed 100,000 driverless miles on public roads. Importantly, we've maintained 100% on-time performance while upholding our perfect driverless safety record. Last week, we launched driverless commercial operations on the westbound 600-mile lane from Fort Worth to El Paso, setting a new benchmark for autonomous trucking. This expansion, accomplished just six months after our driverless launch, is faster than any other self-driving company has scaled to a second U.S. market. The Aurora Driver unlocks substantial value on this lane, and we're thrilled to add multiple customers, including one of the leading carriers in the U.S., to our driverless cohort for this route. To meet expected customer demand in the second quarter of 2026, we plan to launch our second-generation commercial hardware kit on a new fleet of trucks that will enable driverless operation without a partner-requested observer. This third vehicle fleet fortifies our near-term capacity plan and supports our scaling objectives for 2026. Let's dig into what we've been up to. Following earlier-than-anticipated validation of night driverless operations in July, we're already seeing the utilization potential of our self-driving trucks. Our highest mileage driverless truck logged nearly 18,000 miles in a single month. This demonstrates the confidence we have to operate trucks at an annual run rate that doubles the industry average. Our team's focus has since turned to driverless lane expansion and validation in more challenging weather conditions to further increase the value of the Aurora Driver for our customers. Our second driverless commercial lane from Fort Worth to El Paso directly addresses critical customer pain points. This route is notoriously hard to staff and challenging for traditional drivers to complete within a single day. Launching driverless operations on this lane demonstrates the significant efficiency and value potential the Aurora Driver brings to the freight ecosystem by enabling nearly continuous operations. We're now nearing completion of driverless validation for the return trip as well as the Phoenix extension, with our software release planned for January 2026. The Phoenix expansion will add another 400 miles to establish a continuous 1,000-plus mile multistate route between Fort Worth and Phoenix, which far exceeds hours-of-service limitations for a traditional driver. We're also working with multiple customers to identify locations along the I-20 corridor and in the Phoenix area for the first customer endpoints we plan to support with driverless operations in early 2026. As you can see in the case study on Page 16 of the presentation, on these long-haul lanes, the Aurora Driver has the potential to more than double revenue and deliver several-fold higher profit per truck for our customers. Looking ahead to 2026, we expect to rapidly unlock lanes across the Sun Belt. Future planned expansions include lanes between Dallas and Laredo, a critical route for one of our key customers, and between Dallas and Atlanta, which will extend the driverless I-10, I-20 corridor to approximately 2,000 miles. Launching driverless operations from Fort Worth to El Paso and soon in the Phoenix extension required us to validate behavior against dust storms, which are prevalent in some parts of Texas and Arizona. These fast-moving storms can quickly reduce highway visibility. If such conditions are present when the Aurora Driver-powered trucks are on the road, the Aurora Driver is designed to slow its speed and, if significant perception degradation is detected, autonomously execute the safest behavior, pulling over or exiting the highway when possible. This advanced capability is powered by our multimodal sensor suite, including Lidar, camera, and radar. As you can see on Page 10 of the presentation, in a dust storm on the Fort Worth to El Paso lane just outside of Midland, Texas, our perception system leveraged radar and our proprietary FirstLight Lidar, which we're able to see through the dense dust at twice the range of cameras alone. This provided the crucial data needed to make safe decisions long before visibility was completely compromised. These advanced capabilities will also benefit our upcoming Phoenix lane and other routes where similar weather events occur. We also continue to make progress validating driverless operations in rain and heavy wind conditions, which will also be part of our January 2026 software release. This will support high availability potential for Aurora Driver-powered trucks across the Sun Belt, a meaningful component of the value proposition. Along with expanding the Aurora Driver's operating domain, we've also validated additional trailer types, including those with super single tires and increased our driverless fleet. These expansions have contributed to a material acceleration of our driverless mileage, with the Aurora Driver earlier this month surpassing 100,000 driverless miles on public roads. That's double the cumulative driverless miles we achieved just five weeks prior in early September. We now have five driverless trucks regularly scheduled between Dallas and Houston and from Fort Worth to El Paso. To provide a window into this progress, we are continuing to showcase the Aurora Driver in action during this initial phase of our operations via Aurora Driver Live. You can access the live stream via the link on Page 4 of our presentation or the live tab on our YouTube channel at Aurora Driver. You can see our driverless trucks traversing routes between Dallas and Houston and now Fort Worth to El Paso, demonstrating the safety, reliability, and growing maturity of the Aurora Driver. In addition to the opportunity to see our technology live on the road, we've received positive feedback from customers and investors about our willingness to provide this level of transparency. It's a strong signal we stand behind what we're building. With over 6,000 hours of watch time to date, this special series offers industry-leading transparency into autonomous driving performance and the future of freight. Our driverless mileage growth is poised to further accelerate as additional customers integrate the Aurora Driver into their operations to capitalize on its exceptional value proposition. We firmly believe the Aurora Driver will fundamentally redefine the freight ecosystem with its potential to set new standards for safety, efficiency, and sustainability, thereby driving both revenue growth and margin expansion for our customers. A member of Werner's safety team and one of their most seasoned drivers recently came down to Texas to assess the Aurora Driver's performance. Their reactions spoke volumes about the Aurora Driver's core advantages, superior perception, unwavering focus, and the ability to safely navigate long monotonous lanes, which are particularly difficult to staff and have hours of service constraints for traditional drivers. I'm inspired when I hear industry veterans affirm the transformational role our technology will play in the freight industry. You can hear firsthand from the Werner representatives in the video on Page 5 of our presentation. With our Fort Worth to El Paso driverless launch, we've expanded driverless operations for Hirschbach, one of our earliest adopters and value partners, and added two additional carriers to our growing driverless customer cohort. Launching driverlessly on this lane is a major inflection point on our journey with customers, and the expansion of our driverless cohort validates our technology, rigorous safety approach, and the value we deliver. Now that we've proven the promise of the Aurora Driver and are rapidly increasing its value for customers, we're expanding our sales funnel to include mid-market customers, who offer shorter approval cycles. To efficiently target this new segment, we recently announced a strategic partnership with McLeod Software, a premier provider of transportation management solutions for over 1,200 carriers and private fleets. This partnership will deliver seamless integration for our cloud customers, which we expect to accelerate new customer adoption of the Aurora Driver. Just one month after announcing the partnership, we executed an agreement with McLeod customer Russell Transport for driverless hauls on the Fort Worth to El Paso lane. In parallel, we continue to advance our second and third-generation commercial hardware programs as well as our vehicle programs that underpin our path to scale and self-funding. Designed to deliver customer value for 1 million miles, we expect our second-generation commercial kit to drive a 50% plus reduction in our hardware costs. We're also seeing some meaningful performance gains, particularly with the next generation of our proprietary long-range FMCW lidar. FirstLight is now detecting objects at 1,000 meters away, which is double the distance of our current generation as well as the closest FMCW lidar competitor. For a truck traveling at highway speeds, this equates to more than 34 seconds of planning horizon. This will further enhance the Aurora Driver's performance and set a new standard for safety in the industry. We plan to increase driverless operations without a partner-requested observer in the second quarter of 2026 with a new fleet of trucks equipped with the second-generation commercial hardware kit. This fleet will be based on the international LT Series truck with Aurora performing all necessary upfit required for driverless operations. These trucks will undergo rigorous testing and validation, just like any platform we would take to driverless operation. This third truck fleet fortifies our near-term capacity plan and will support our target to exit 2026 with hundreds of driverless trucks in operation. While this program is underway, we achieved an industry-first partnership manufacturing milestone with Volvo, as they began the lineside integration of the second-generation Aurora Driver commercial hardware kit into the Volvo VNL autonomous on the pilot line at their New River Valley, Virginia, manufacturing facility. Once Volvo completes validation of the vehicle-level firmware necessary for driverless operations, we will integrate these trucks into our driverless fleet. In addition, PACCAR continues to advance the prototype testing of their scalable autonomy-enabled truck platform at their facilities. Looking further ahead, we continue to progress our third-generation commercial hardware kit that we believe will unlock scale on the order of tens of thousands of trucks. In September, Continental completed the spin-off of their automotive business, AUMOVIO. I had the honor to keynote their Supplier Day, which highlighted our flagship program, which has a planned start of production in 2027. We're excited to see AUMOVIO continue to make significant manufacturing investments here in the U.S. to support the scaling of the Aurora Driver. Earlier this month, they announced a $110 million investment to significantly expand their New Braunfels, Texas, manufacturing facility, where the Aurora Driver hardware kit will be produced. The project, which includes a 65,000 square foot addition and a state-of-the-art automated warehouse, is expected to create new well-paying jobs in the coming years. The expansion will more than double the existing production floor space and is expected to be fully operational by August 2027. We've now received and begun testing computer samples from AUMOVIO, which include NVIDIA's DRIVE Thor system on a chip. Complete prototypes of this hardware kit are on track for delivery by the end of the year to begin engineering validation testing. As we accelerate our path to deployment at scale, favorable regulatory momentum continues to build across the U.S. Earlier this month, we received approval from the U.S. Department of Transportation to begin using cab-mounted warning beacons as an alternative to reflective triangles. The cab-mounted flashing lights indicate when a vehicle is stopped on the side of the road to warn other road users, which is similar to systems used by emergency and construction vehicles and is a step forward for road safety. And on the legislative front, the AMERICA DRIVES Act, a landmark bill to establish a federal framework specifically for self-driving trucks, continues to gain traction with co-sponsorship from U.S. Representative Jay Obernolte of California. In closing, we've made unprecedented progress since our commercial launch and continue to be the only company with driverless trucks on public roads in the U.S. We've proven that the technology works and are now channeling our momentum to support lasting customer value and our path to scale. Insights from our real-world driverless miles reinforce there are no shortcuts to safety, trust, and scale in autonomous trucking. Our strategic investments have built powerful flywheels that are now accelerating, driving us forward with increasing efficiency. Our industry-leading technology, coupled with a world-class ecosystem of partners, customers, and shareholders, uniquely positions Aurora to set the standard for autonomous trucking. Thank you for your partnership as we continue to build the future of transportation. With that, I'll now pass it over to Dave, who will review our financial results.
Thank you, Chris. Let's discuss our financial results for which we have provided a summary on Page 17 of the slide deck for reference. Third quarter 2025 revenue totaled $1 million across driverless and vehicle operator supervised commercial loads for Hirschbach, Uber Freight, Werner, FedEx, Schneider, and Volvo Autonomous Solutions, among others. The Aurora Driver achieved another record number of commercial miles driven during the quarter, which drove a 12% sequential increase in revenue from the second quarter. Third quarter operating losses, including stock-based compensation, totaled $222 million. Excluding stock-based compensation of $51 million, R&D totaled $138 million, SG&A was $28 million, and the cost of revenue was $6 million. We used approximately $149 million in operating cash during the third quarter, and capital expenditures totaled $8 million. This cash spend was meaningfully below our externally communicated target, reflecting continued strong fiscal discipline. We expect cash use of $175 million to $185 million during the fourth quarter of 2025. During the third quarter, we issued 80 million shares of Class A common stock through our at-the-market program for net proceeds of $460 million. We used $21 million of the net proceeds to fund the tax liability associated with the vesting of our employees' restricted stock units during the third quarter. In turn, we ended the third quarter with a very strong balance sheet, including increased liquidity of $1.6 billion in cash and short-term and long-term investments. We expect this liquidity to fund our operations into the second half of 2027. We will be providing 2026 financial objectives in the fourth quarter 2025 business review in February. For the remainder of the year, we will continue to focus on expanding driverless operations and advancing our program to support our 2026 scaling objectives to accelerate our first-mover advantage to reinforce our leadership position. With that, we'll now open the call to Q&A.
Questions and answers
Our next question comes from George Gianarikas with Canaccord Genuity.
Maybe first, I'd like to ask if you could sort of give us form and shape to your plans for moving from terminal to endpoint shipments.
Thanks, George. It's great to take a question from you. One of the misconceptions we hear is that this is a significant issue, but it really isn't. For instance, when we operate our Houston terminal, we travel about five miles through various industrial park surface streets to reach our terminal. We have a system that is capable and operates effectively. For us, it’s just a matter of timing and sequencing when the volumes are adequate to be relevant for our customers. We plan to roll this out to customers over the next year. Dave?
Yes. I would like to mention a couple of other points. One is regarding the common misconception. When considering customer endpoints, approximately 80% are located within a five-mile radius of a highway, making this a manageable technical challenge. It's also crucial to highlight that our progress is linked to our technology rollout strategy. We began with a small fleet of trucks, which we are continuously expanding. It's vital for us to be able to operate in all weather conditions. We have already introduced nighttime operations and are broadening our lanes. However, we also need to function effectively in rain and strong winds. Once we can operate in all these conditions, we can efficiently manage a greater number of vehicles between specific endpoints for our customers. The key is to ensure we have a reliable product operating between these endpoints. This plan is being executed very deliberately.
And maybe as a follow-up in two parts. So in your press release, you say that you want to deploy hundreds of trucks next year; that feels like a little bit of an acceleration. Is that true? And the second part of the question is, is that being enabled by your partnership with International, which I think is new. Did you have a partnership with International before this?
Yes, this aligns with our previous statements. We aim to acquire over ten trucks this year and hundreds next year. We are focused on achieving our goals. Regarding our relationship with International, it is new. We are buying trucks from them and handling the upfitting ourselves. We continue to collaborate with Volvo and PACCAR and are enthusiastic about our future plans with them. This approach allows us to manage timelines effectively and ensures we can meet customer demand and strengthen our volumes for next year.
Our next question comes from the line of Ravi Shanker with Morgan Stanley.
If I can just quickly the line of discussion on International. I just wanted to confirm, so are you just buying the trucks off a lot and kind of rolling that out as a third fleet? Or is this an actual OEM relationship like you have with PACCAR and Volvo, in which case, is there a time to commercial launch of that as well?
Ravi, it's Dave. So we are buying stock trucks. We're not actually buying necessarily up a lot. We are ordering them through International, but there is no co-development partnership associated with those. So it's important to understand that we've got a tremendous experience in how to integrate the Aurora Driver into platforms. We've done it on roughly eight platforms. So we understand all the necessary capabilities to launch a safe product. And in this particular case, we've got two partnerships with co-developments already. We felt this was a great opportunity for us to continue to meet customer demand and work and offer the Aurora Driver on a third platform.
And to answer the second half of your question, Ravi, we expect to have the International truck on the road driverless in Q2 of '26. So we're excited to add that to our growing fleet.
Understood. That's helpful. And maybe as a follow-up, as you guys get closer to launching Gen 2 and specing the Gen 3 hardware, when do you get a sense of the bill of materials and the cost of the system involved? And maybe also, like when do you expect to have conversations with your OEM partners and maybe launch actual pricing of the truck and the system for your customers?
Yes. So I think on the bill of materials for the Aurora Driver, we have very good insight into that today. We track it as part of our development process. We know what that bill of material cost is. And it's important to understand again that as we look at that cost, that doesn't get borne upfront as part of the purchase of a truck; that is paid through the subscription that customers will pay for the Aurora Driver, this Driver-as-a-Service model. And we factored that into the cost and into the revenue stream and profitability of the business going forward.
Our next question comes from the line of Colin Rusch with Oppenheimer.
You've talked a lot about the simulation expertise that you have. Can you talk a little bit about any sort of acceleration that you're seeing or any sort of transitions that may see hiccups, as you move to the new hardware?
Yes, we believe simulation is a crucial tool, and we appreciate your acknowledgment of our investment in it. We don't foresee any issues. Many people may not realize that creating an automated driving system is quite complex. The tools, processes, and rigor needed to ensure that the system is safe for operation at high speeds is equally challenging, if not more so. As we develop our validation and release processes, we have incorporated scalability to help speed up our release process and accommodate future generations of hardware. Overall, everything is progressing as we anticipated. I hope that addresses your question, and we're feeling optimistic about this.
Okay. Yes, I'll follow up offline. The second one is really around customer comfort with the technology. Now that you're accumulating a fair amount of experience on the road without the driver, how quickly are customers getting comfortable with taking a safety driver out of the cab and thinking about actually starting to deploy with you guys out of the gate without a driver?
Yes. I think that, one, it's dangerous to characterize all customers in one bucket. And so there's obviously a spectrum of them. But what we're seeing is enthusiasm, right? The conversation has moved from, hey, maybe this will happen to, oh, it's happening. I can see why this will benefit my business. I would like to have access to that. And so we mentioned Russell Transport. That's a customer that just signed up with us and signed up with us on day one to operate driverlessly. And we expect that to be the flavor of many of the customer relationships that we're going to put in place going forward.
Our next question comes from the line of Andres Sheppard with Cantor Fitzgerald.
Congratulations on the significant progress. I believe some of our questions have already been addressed. Chris, could you provide us with more details on how to approach truck deployments for the fourth quarter and possibly early next year? Currently, there are five operational trucks, so reaching more than ten would likely require deploying six additional trucks before the end of the year. How should we consider the Q4 deployments and average selling prices? Any insights you could share would be helpful.
We expect to have 10 trucks operating without drivers by the end of this year, ramping them up throughout the fourth quarter. We understand that our approach might sound repetitive, but we emphasize the importance of taking careful steps. Our goal is to ensure that both customers and regulators feel at ease as we grow at a pace that allows us to provide real value. Currently, we are balancing the expansion of driverless operations with maximizing the effectiveness of our existing fleet to deliver that value to our customers. We are also focusing on expanding our routes and adapting to weather conditions so that when those trucks start operating autonomously, they can serve customers effectively.
Got it. Okay. That's helpful. And I guess as maybe a quick follow-up. So in your presentation in the timeline slide, you talked about having positive gross profit by the end of '26 or early '27. How should we think about that? Is there a certain number of trucks in operation that you think you'd need to get to that point? Or is there a better way to think about kind of that ramp-up?
Yes. There is a bit of truck volume involved and we are continuing to focus on our capabilities today. We've identified four key enablers. The first is the launch of our second-generation hardware kit, which is on track to be introduced alongside our new fleet of trucks in April. We're very excited about that. Additionally, there's ongoing progress with remote assistance; this doesn't involve operating the vehicles but rather supporting them as needed, such as detecting signs that require attention. We believe we're on the right path to enable one person to operate and support multiple vehicles, transitioning from a few to many. We are also evaluating the type of on-site support required for potential issues like tire blowouts, and while we have confidence in that, we recognize it still requires some work to fully validate. Lastly, achieving sufficient scale is crucial as we face structural costs from operating at our terminals and insurance costs, making mileage accumulation very important. Initially, we aimed for gross profit positivity by the end of 2026, but since we launched commercially a bit later, we now expect that timeline might extend into early 2027. We remain confident that this target is realistic, although we're not providing formal guidance for profitability in 2026 just yet.
And just to add on what Dave was saying right now, like take, for example, the Aurora Driver hardware kit; there, we just look at the BOM cost, and we see roughly half the price of what our current system is. And then you add to that the increased durability, so you can amortize that over a longer distance or a longer amount of driving. That's a big mover, and we see that coming online in '26 or in Q2 '26.
Our next question comes from the line of Chris Pierce with Needham & Company.
If we just go back to the International truck announcement, I just want to understand, will customers be able to buy International trucks that you upfit? Or is this just something you're doing to sort of pull forward or accumulate more proof points with the Aurora Driver technology?
So as you know, today, we're operating in this what we call Transportation-as-a-Service mode, where we're operating trucks for our customers. And initially, we expect that's how this will operate. So we'll own these trucks. They'll be out there revenue generating and generating value for customers. Maybe at some point in the future, we consider that. But initially, this is going to be trucks we own and operate and get paid for.
Should we consider that if things go well, this might involve launching with other OEM partners as you've previously mentioned? Given that International already has a public autonomous partner, do you envision a scenario where OEMs have multiple autonomous platforms, allowing truck fleets to choose based on metrics or price? How do you perceive the market developing?
Yes. We've made no secret that we intend to have the Aurora Driver available on all OEM platforms. And we love the opportunity to compete. We think the Aurora Driver is going to be the best product in the market. And so yes, we would love to have and hope to have a long-term relationship here.
Okay. Lastly, I'm curious if you've noticed the recent headlines from NVIDIA related to mobility, including collaborations with OEM partners and eVTOL partners in the trucking sector. How should we interpret this announcement in relation to your relationship with NVIDIA? I'm looking to understand what is new and how we should view this situation overall, if there's anything you can share.
Yes. We've obviously been working with NVIDIA and AUMOVIO on the third-generation Aurora commercial hardware kit for some time now. I think we announced it back in January, maybe. So great to see others recognizing the opportunity to use this technology. We think it's great hardware. And will this continue to build our business? Yes. NVIDIA makes good products, so I'm not surprised others are using them.
Our next question comes from the line of David Vernon with Bernstein.
So my first question is about the equipment. You mentioned in your presentation that the second generation should achieve a 50% reduction in hardware costs. Is there a specific scale you need to reach to achieve that? Also, what is the expected lifecycle for this equipment? How frequently do you anticipate needing to upgrade the hardware on a truck, or will it become obsolete?
Yes. So as we talk about the price point of the bill of material savings, that's across this production run of 1,000-plus units, right? And as we talked about in the past, we have the vehicles we have today with our first-generation hardware; we knew we could build that in tens and not more. And that's why we have the second-generation hardware, where our contract manufacturing partner, Fabrinet, is producing those, and that gets us to 1,000 plus. And then, of course, the truly large automotive scale comes in with the AUMOVIO partnership, and that's when we can get to tens of thousands of units. So this fits kind of the bridge between tens and tens of thousands. And so the price numbers are across that 1,000-plus scale, and we have commitments and alignment on that. In terms of the lifecycle, we expect this hardware to be lasting 1 million miles. That aligns well with the kind of useful first ownership for many of these trucks and meets our objectives for the profitability and financials here.
Okay. That's helpful. And then, Dave, my second question would be for you on your sort of illustrative end-to-end case study, looking on Page 16 of your presentation there for Fort Worth to Phoenix. If I have my metrics right, I'm pretty sure a fully loaded Class A tractor can go 1,000 to 1,200 miles on a full tank of gas. With the driverless, couldn't this truck make the trip in a day as opposed to the two to three that a normal trucker would quote for? And if that's right, then why sell it at 205 a mile?
Yes, I believe there are a couple of points to consider. First, we can achieve the same distance with improved fuel efficiency. In fact, we are around 15% more fuel-efficient than traditional human drivers. Our goal is to complete the trip in a single day. The 205 pricing is relevant for us because each lane will have different pricing and customer dynamics. We’ve always indicated that in the Transportation-as-a-Service segment, our pricing aligns with the broader market, while for the Driver as a Service, we have a pricing range of 65% to 85%. We will provide more detailed pricing information as we progress further.
David, I'll jump in for a moment. The revenue per mile we mentioned is not specifically for Aurora. It reflects an end-to-end Driver as a Service business model, using industry rates sourced from DAT. This figure represents what a carrier would be paid to transport those loads in that lane based on market data. We then illustrate how much additional revenue and margin we can generate for the customer under the Driver as a Service model, where they pay us a driver fee. We can discuss the details offline, but I wanted to clarify that aspect.
And I do think, though, to your point, as there is an opportunity potentially for premium pricing here because of the speed at which you can move these goods. But we're still exploring when and if that's an appropriate lever to pull.
Okay. Is the software subject to any hours of service or not? And then I'll let you go, sorry.
No, it's not. No, the software is not subject to hours of service because if you just think about the reason for the hours of service limitation, it's because a person gets tired, right? Our software has that superhuman ability to not get tired.
Our next question comes from the line of Mark Delaney with Goldman Sachs.
First, just hoping to better understand some of the progress the company has been making with Volvo. I think in the last earnings call, you spoke about hoping to have 20 trucks from them by the end of the year. Where do you stand with that? And if I understood the press release today, you also are working to integrate at lineside. So if you could share some time frames for that as well. So a couple of different parts to Volvo timelines and progress, please.
Yes. Mark, can you just hit the first part again, just to make sure I got it correct?
I thought you were planning to take some trucks from Volvo Autonomous Solutions, if I was remembering correctly. Where do you stand with those and getting those validated? And then I think you also talked today about doing some lineside integration. I was hoping to also understand when that may materialize.
Yes, I want to confirm the details about the trucks from Volvo Autonomous Solutions. We previously mentioned that we are starting to receive the second set and are currently in the process of building their third set of trucks. These are referred to as B-Sample and C-Sample, which are development trucks equipped with all the necessary hardware. However, as Chris pointed out, we still need to make some firmware and software updates to fully validate them for driverless operations on their truck platform. We are in the process of deploying these trucks, which will be used for delivering commercial loads to support Volvo Autonomous Solutions, as well as for development testing and integrating them into our second-generation hardware. Today, Chris highlighted that we have begun the first lineside integration of the Aurora Driver kit at their New River Valley assembly plant. This is an exciting development for us, especially regarding our partnerships with PACCAR and Volvo, as it allows us to build at scale. The ability to install parts lineside, just like any other component during vehicle assembly, is crucial for achieving high-volume production, and we are making good progress on both fronts.
Very helpful, David. And just the timeframe to be done with the testing and validation with Volvo, do you have an estimate you can share?
Yes. Again, same as always, we're going to try not to talk about our customers and our partners' timing. We let them do that, but we're making tremendous progress. And again, we're starting lineside integration. So things are advancing really well for us.
Okay. And then just my last question was just on the news with International. Maybe just talk a little bit more around how that's evolved and how that supports your driver out timeframes that you were describing in your prepared remarks.
I'm very excited about our progress with International. The interest and customer demand for the Aurora Driver have been exceptionally strong, and we are advancing technically. We aim to fulfill our commitment to deploying these trucks across the Sun Belt by upgrading stock trucks from International, equipping them with the Aurora Driver, and launching driverless operations without an observer in the second quarter of 2026. This presents a significant opportunity to meet demand and leverage our potential, while further establishing our leadership in the industry. We are focused on maintaining our momentum across all areas.
Our last question comes from the line of Itay Michaeli with TD Cowen.
I have two questions regarding the product roadmap. First, Chris, you mentioned addressing some of the dust storms. I'm interested in how much of that issue was addressed by your Lidar compared to radar. Secondly, there seems to be a slight delay in the rain and heavy wind update. Could you clarify if that was related to needing to tackle the dust storms first, which caused the delay? Any insights you can provide would be appreciated.
Yes. Regarding how we handle dust storms, we believe in the value of a complementary set of sensors, each with its own strengths and weaknesses. We don't rely solely on Lidar or radar; instead, we create a perception and AI model that integrates data from various sources to achieve the best results. We capitalize on the unique features of our FirstLight FMCW Lidar, while radar, with its longer wavelengths, is less affected by dust. Together, they enable us to effectively detect what's on the road ahead. As for the rain update, we view this as a minor issue. Whether it comes out at the end of December or early January doesn't change our commitment to transparency. We acknowledge that the release will be a couple of weeks later than initially planned, and we wanted to communicate that clearly.
Yes. And it's also important to point out that we also pulled ahead the Fort Worth to El Paso lane quite a bit. We're going to continue to drive towards moving really quickly on this. And as Chris reminded me even earlier today, we are going to give people a little bit of a breather during the holidays.
Yes, Dave has to remind me not to beat myself and the team up on the week or two here, given that we pulled the other thing forward.
Thank you. At this time, this concludes today's teleconference. You may disconnect your lines at this time. Thank you for your participation.