Aurora shares jump after deal with Nvidia, Continental to deploy self-driving trucks

Aurora Innovation's shares rose 38% in premarket trading on Tuesday after the self-driving technology developer announced a long-term deal with Nvidia and Germany's Continental to deploy self-driving trucks.

Uber-backed Aurora's stock has nearly doubled in the past 12 months, as investors bet that the market for autonomous driving technology used in trucks will grow rapidly in the coming years.

"Nvidia's CEO has been clear that he sees huge potential in the autonomous driving space over the next few years," said Danni Hewson, head of financial analysis at AJ Bell.

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania-based Aurora already has partnerships with truck makers including PACCAR and Volvo to develop and test its self-driving system, Aurora Driver, on their trucks.

Aurora plans to launch its driverless trucking service in Texas in April, the company said on Monday.

"Many investors may have only heard the name Aurora Innovation for the first time today and its association with Nvidia and Continental is a tantalizing one, but this is a space with a huge amount of competition and requiring a massive amount of investment," Hewson said.

Under the deal, Nvidia's computing platform DRIVE Thor, designed to centralize autonomous and assisted driving as well as other digital functions, and its automotive operating system, DriveOS, will be integrated into the Aurora Driver system.

Continental will mass produce this system in 2027, to enable a large-scale deployment of self-driving trucks.