Self-driving company Aurora Innovation has started testing its Toyota Sienna-based robotaxis in Texas.
The Sienna robotaxis feature the Aurora Driver hardware suite and are currently being driven on highways and suburban streets in Texas. The minivans’ systems frequently handle U-turns, high-speed merges, and lane changes and can also react to road construction works, stop-and-go traffic, inclement weather, and can detect pedestrians, motorcyclists, and traffic lights. The vehicles have two safety operators on board during tests.
To celebrate the launch of the system, Aurora picked up a number of Toyota executives from the automaker’s headquarters before the vehicle drove them autonomously on a portion of the route they would normally take to the Dallas Fort Worth International Airport.
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“Toyota’s engineering team is truly world-class. Experiencing the result together this week was special and is a testament to our progress and respect for one other,” chief product officer and co-founder of Aurora, Sterling Anderson, said. “We’ve designed and delivered a purpose-built test fleet specifically for a ride-hailing experience that’s comfortable, convenient, and safe, and we look forward to sharing more on our progress soon.”
Aurora is led by Chris Urmson, the former head of Google’s self-driving car project and is gearing up to eventually launch a robotaxi service operating through ride-hailing networks.
“We congratulate Aurora on reaching their milestone of integrating its Aurora Driver technology onto our Toyota Autono-MaaS platform vehicle,” added president and chief executive of Toyota Motor North America, Ted Ogawa. “The route represented what we would expect going to the airport in the future, and we look forward to seeing Aurora’s future deployment plans.”
