Aurora partners with McLeod Software to manage autonomous truck shipments

Aurora Innovation will integrate its self-driving trucking platform into McLeod Software's transportation management system in an effort to boost adoption, the companies said on Thursday.

An API integration to Aurora's technology will allow mutual customers to manage autonomous shipments with McLeod's TMS software.

"By meeting customers where they are within their existing TMS, we're making it easy for them to tap into the safety and efficiency benefits of autonomous trucks," said Ossa Fisher, president at Aurora.

The partnership comes as other autonomous trucking startups like Plus and Waabi develop their own technology and try to grab market share.

Beta testing of Aurora's integration is under way, and McLeod plans to offer the feature to customers next year.

Self-driving vehicles, especially trucks, face a long road to commercialization, including regulatory approvals, dozens of hours of testing and heavy capital investments.

Aurora launched commercial driverless operations earlier this year in Texas — a welcoming state for self-driving technology — using its flagship Aurora Driver tech for long-haul trucking.

McLeod provides software to manage trucking logistics and freight brokerage management for over 1,200 customers.