Aurora adds 500-truck Charger MOU toward 30,000-truck goal

“Since launching autonomous operations along the Laredo corridor, we’ve realized immediate operational benefits that point to a clear path to scaling,” said Andy Khera, president of Charger Logistics. “Aurora’s plans to open long-haul, high-volume routes position us to scale geographically while we integrate autonomy from our TMS to the road, building a resilient and autonomous ecosystem for our customers.”

How Driver as a Service changes ownership

Charger’s July agreement is a Transport as a Service deal, according to Aurora’s third-quarter shareholder letter. Under that model, Aurora owns and operates the trucks and charges about $2 per mile, including a fuel surcharge.

Under Driver as a Service, the carrier buys the truck and pays Aurora for the driving. That brings Aurora 85 cents or more per mile, on trucks Aurora expects to run about 250,000 miles a year.

The letter calls the Charger deal “a potential multi-year revenue stream in the hundreds of millions of dollars.” Neither company disclosed Charger’s per-mile rate.

Aurora made the case for carrier ownership in the release.

“Owning the physical asset is the logical choice for our customers: it makes today’s operations more efficient and enables carriers to grow their business, keeping them competitive,” said Zac Andreoni, vice president of business development at Aurora.

The Charger deal is not yet binding

The cautionary statement in Aurora’s release lists the risk that the Charger MOU may not lead to a final agreement and binding orders “on the anticipated timeframe or at all.” In September, Aurora pushed back its own target for breakeven gross margin on a run-rate basis to the first half of 2027, at about 500 trucks, from the end of 2026.

Werner Enterprises, another Aurora customer, was still negotiating economic terms in September. Daragh Mahon, Werner’s executive vice president and chief information officer, addressed the cost on a customer panel at Aurora’s Analyst and Investor Day in Dallas on Sept. 23.

“And I will be quite honest that we have a gap. We’ve got to figure this out,” Mahon said.

Aurora ranks No. 4 on FreightTech 25

The MOU landed the same day FreightWaves named Aurora No. 4 on the 2027 FreightTech 25, revealed at the F3 Awards Dinner in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Aurora previously ranked No. 2 on the 2026 list.

Four autonomous trucking companies made this year’s list, up from three last year: Aurora, Kodiak AI at No. 12, Torc Robotics at No. 19, and Waabi at No. 20.

Charger’s fleet and routes

Charger Logistics, a privately held, asset-based carrier, operates across the U.S. and Mexico. Its U.S. unit, Charger Logistics USA, lists 481 power units and 542 drivers in its Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration registration, last updated in October 2025. The 500 Aurora trucks would exceed that count.

Charger plans to run the Aurora trucks on current and new high-volume routes near the border and across the country.

“With the launch of our second-generation hardware and trucks, Aurora is ready to support our customers’ ambitions to grow their networks and move more freight with driverless trucks,” Andreoni said.

Why it matters: The deal would move the cost of owning driverless trucks from Aurora to the carrier. If the deal completes and the MOU fulfilled, Charger would take on more trucks than its U.S. unit runs today.