Aurora has partnered with On the Road Garage, a transportation workforce development provider to launch an apprenticeship and upskilling initiative to prepare workers for the new demands required by autonomous vehicles. Aurora advises the program and includes autonomous and electric vehicle repair, ADAS calibration, advanced vehicle technologies, and AV terminal operations.
This program is about more than just jobs—it’s about building equitable access to the future of mobility,” said Roy Villareal, vice president at On the Road Garage in the release. “Through this collaboration with Aurora, we are creating a national model for inclusive workforce development in emerging transportation technologies.”
The program called “OTR Advanced Vehicle Technology—Powered by Aurora” combines hands-on training paired with pathways to gain industry credentials, a major pathway for vehicle technicians who use these credentials to get better roles or more pay.
For autonomous vehicle providers, half the battle is getting the truck on the road while an additional and under-reported challenge goes into maintenance. Compared to a traditional tractor driven by a driver, autonomous trucks require technicians who can troubleshoot and repair the complex LiDAR and radar arrays besides the extra redundant systems that AV trucks require, like braking, power and steering systems.
The fleet technician space remains in a shortage, with an aging workforce paired with broader demographic changes forcing maintenance providers to get creative with filling roles. An added challenge comes from the labor pipeline, where smaller shops are competing with larger OEM dealers for labor.
Nikola Founder Trevor Milton Battles creditors in bankruptcy subpoena fight
Trevor Milton, recently pardoned founder of Nikola, is actively fighting a subpoena from creditors of his bankrupt electric trucking company as they attempt to recover nearly $100 million he allegedly owes the firm.
The official committee of unsecured creditors issued the subpoena to Milton’s legal team on April 1, seeking information about his financial affairs. The committee alleges Milton has failed to pay the substantial sum awarded to Nikola following a 2023 arbitration case related to his criminal conviction.
“Milton has yet to pay a cent,” the creditor committee stated in a recent filing. Before its bankruptcy declaration in February, Nikola had sued Milton in federal court in Arizona, accusing him of “fraudulently transferring away tens of millions of dollars of his assets in order to hinder, delay, and defraud [Nikola] in [its] attempts to collect upon the Arbitration Award.”
The dispute has persisted for approximately two months, with Milton’s legal team arguing that materials sought by creditors are protected under a protective order in the Arizona case.
Meanwhile, Nikola’s assets have been largely liquidated through the bankruptcy process. Lucid Motors has acquired the leases on Nikola’s Arizona factory and headquarters, hiring around 300 former employees. An auction company purchased the company’s remaining hydrogen-powered trucks.
The arbitration award represents one of the largest remaining assets in Nikola’s bankruptcy estate. The company had initially planned to use this award to settle an ongoing class action shareholder lawsuit related to misleading claims made during its public offering process.
Complicating matters further, Milton received a surprise presidential pardon from President Trump while appealing his four-year prison sentence. Shortly thereafter, Nikola’s lawyers accused Milton of attempting to derail the bankruptcy proceedings.
Milton has since commissioned a documentary that premiered on June 10, which he claims will reveal the “true story about how the so called ‘justice system’ nearly destroyed an innocent man.”
