Berkshire Hathaway’s McLane deploying autonomous big rigs with Aurora
Berkshire Hathaway subsidiary McLane develops autonomous trucking technology Aurora Innovation McLane and Aurora announced Wednesday that the companies will expand the autonomous freight pilot program they launched in 2023 to routes in Texas and the U.S. Sun Belt by the end of the year.
Temple, Texas-based McLane is one of the largest distribution companies in the United States, with more than 80 distribution centers and 25,000 employees covering nearly every zip code in the country. Aurora Driver will use its technology in long-distance trucking to move ingredients, including perishable items, to restaurant brands.
The current pilot involves two daily round trips between Dallas and Houston, seven days a week, using what is called “supervised” autonomous technology that controls the “middle mile” in long-distance trucking; McLane drivers take over last-mile local delivery of loads to customers using separate trucks.
Since 2023, McLane routes have logged 280,000 autonomous miles in Texas using this technology, and 1,400 loads have been delivered to restaurants. Now McLane has confirmed driverless operations between Dallas and Houston and plans to add new routes between McLane distribution centers in the US Sun Belt by the end of the year.
“Autonomous technology helps us achieve greater efficiency throughout the supply chain, while our drivers remain focused on the critical last mile and continue to serve as the face of our company to our customers,” Susan Adzick, president of McLane Restaurants, said in a statement.
Trucks operating in the middle mile of logistics networks transport orders between central distribution facilities and last-mile delivery points. Automating the middle stage is the current focus of many distribution networks and self-driving shipping companies, including Amazon.
The companies declined to specify the number of trucks or loads that will be part of the driverless transport, saying only that trucks powered by Aurora Driver software will continue to make multiple trips each day between Dallas and Houston.
More importantly, there is still a human “observer” OEM Paccar, which has requested that observers remain in the cabins for now, is in the cabin on these routes carrying the loads in its trucks. Unlike “supervised” rides, the observer never operates the vehicle and the Aurora Driver is “fully responsible for all driving duties, including pulling to a safe location when necessary,” according to the company.
Aurora plans to deploy a new fleet of trucks that will not include observers from Volkswagen subsidiary International LT starting this quarter, with a total of 200 trucks expected by the end of the year. Aurora declined to say whether McLane plans to adopt these trucks. Aurora is McLane’s only current driverless truck partner.
The companies said they have plans to expand the effort in the future. McLane Company serves grocery stores and mass retailers as well as chain restaurants. One of its biggest customers is Walmart, which once owned McLane and sold the company to Berkshire Hathaway in 2003.
McLane declined to identify customers for whom driverless trucking will expand in the future.
Autonomous freight transportation is expected to scale rapidly starting this year. Autonomous transport companies merged in texas as the primary distribution point, and that’s not just because of the pro-business, light regulatory touch the government is known for. The Sun Belt carries large amounts of freight, with routes stretching from Texas to Arizona and California. The absence of severe weather conditions such as snow and ice also eliminates a variable for autonomous technology to navigate.
Lior Ron, founder and president of Uber Freight, who joined driverless technology company Waabi as chief operating officer last August, said automation is the most fundamental change in transportation of the next decade. “I can’t think of anything that will be more conducive to the next era of logistics and innovation and how goods are moved. The technology is here now,” he told CNBC in August. Within five years, Ron expects driverless freight trucks to become “a common sight in the supply chain across the U.S. and particularly in the Sunbelt corridors.”
Aurora Innovation recently launched a 1,000-mile autonomous route between Fort Worth, Texas and Phoenix, Arizona; This route is notable for being far beyond what a human trucker can handle without stopping. The company also announced earlier this week an agreement with Volvo Autonomous Solutions to operate a new 200-mile freight route between Dallas and Oklahoma City.
