Aurora Innovation’s shares jumped 35% on Tuesday after the self-driving technology developer announced a significant long-term partnership with Nvidia and Germany’s Continental to deploy driverless trucks.
The surge in stock value marks a notable rise in investor confidence, as Aurora’s stock has nearly doubled over the past 12 months, driven by optimism surrounding the future of autonomous driving technology in the trucking industry.
With the deal, Aurora is expected to add approximately $4 billion to its market value, which stood at $11.17 billion at the close of the previous trading session. “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.
Aurora, based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, already has existing partnerships with truck makers such as PACCAR and Volvo to develop and test its self-driving system, Aurora Driver, on their trucks. The company plans to launch its driverless trucking service in Texas by April.
Under the new agreement, Nvidia’s DRIVE Thor computing platform, which centralizes autonomous and assisted driving along with other digital functions, will be integrated into the Aurora Driver system.
Continental will begin mass production of the system in 2027, enabling a large-scale deployment of self-driving trucks. Despite the excitement, Hewson cautioned that the autonomous trucking sector is highly competitive and requires substantial investment, noting, “This is a space with a huge amount of competition and requiring a massive amount of investment.”
