Aurora Innovation has signed another commercial customer for its autonomous trucking business, announcing that Value Truck will begin using the Aurora Driver on two longhaul freight lanes as the company brings its second-generation driverless trucks into service.

Value Truck, a cross-border carrier specializing in heavy equipment, retail goods and perishables, plans to initially deploy the Aurora Driver on the Dallas-Laredo and Fort Worth-Phoenix routes. The company said autonomous trucks will provide additional longhaul capacity while allowing its human drivers to focus on local freight operations.

“We’re proud to work alongside Aurora to move autonomous trucking from possibility to everyday freight operations,” said Joe Skoog, CEO of Value Truck. “The Aurora Driver will add flexible capacity on key long-haul corridors while allowing our drivers to focus where their experience matters most.”

Aurora said the partnership is aimed in part at addressing growing freight demand tied to nearshoring and increased cross-border trade.

“Freight volume on routes like Dallas-Laredo is growing faster than available capacity, and that gap is exactly what the Aurora Driver is built to close,” said Zac Andreoni, Aurora’s vice president of business development. “Value Truck is exactly the kind of customer we built our second-generation trucks for — a carrier that is growing and needs flexible, round-the-clock coverage on high-growth corridors.”

The Dallas-Laredo corridor is a strategic target for autonomous trucking. Aurora noted that Laredo, Texas, handles about 40% of all freight moving between the United States and Mexico, with growing manufacturing activity in Mexico increasing freight volumes through the border crossing. Congestion and driver hours-of-service limitations can create delays, while autonomous trucks are able to operate continuously on U.S. highways.