Oct 28, 2026 earnings call — Driverless production ramp and DaaS MOUs
Aurora expects a steady-state production rate of approximately 20 trucks per week by early December and 2026 revenue of approximately $9 million.
Revenue $0.0B (est $0.0B) · EPS $-0.12 (est $-0.12)
Key quotes
"We have 20-plus driverless trucks already built and coming into the fleet and production is accelerating."
"Charger Logistics has selected Aurora to scale their autonomous fleet with a plan to own and operate 500 Driver-as-a-Service trucks."
"Earlier this month, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration granted Aurora and the industry an important 5-year exemption, permitting driverless trucks to use cab-mounted warning beacons in place of traditional manually placed roadside warning devices."
Analyst Q&A 6
Daimler and OEM integration
Q (George Gianarikas · Canaccord Genuity): The analyst asked how Daimler's open software strategy affects third-party developers like Aurora and asked about bottlenecks to reaching 20 trucks per week and confidence in hitting December timing.
A: Aurora said they want the Aurora Driver on all OEM platforms and look forward to working with Daimler when possible. For the 20-trucks-per-week ramp, they hit material availability, component quality and end-of-line issues, which caused about a 6-week delay; they have worked the problems and still expect 200 trucks in February and 1,000-plus by the end of next year.
"We've talked for a long time about how we would like to have the Aurora Driver available on all OEM platforms." — Christopher Urmson (CEO)
Q4 cash burn and 2027 capacity
Q (Nancy Hipp · Morgan Stanley): The analyst asked how much of the Q4 cash burn increase is temporary (working capital or production) versus structural, and how to think about quarterly cash burn into 2027. They also asked how much of 2027 capacity is already contracted given recent announcements.
A: Management said the cash burn increase is mostly planned and tied to scaling the fleet—buying kits, components and increasing production with Roush—and not a major change to R&D structural costs, with only slight G&A growth to support deployments. They said the initial 200 trucks are fully contracted, the TaaS fleet capped at about 500 is nearly fully allocated, and they have announced 1,000 trucks of DaaS MOUs over 2027 and 2028.
"So the initial 200 trucks we've talked about is fully contracted." — Christopher Urmson (CEO)
2030 truck target and benefits
Q (Ryan Sigdahl · Craig-Hallum Capital Group): The analyst asked whether Daimler is included in the 30,000-truck target for 2030 and whether society is appreciating benefits like safety and consistent driving.
A: They said customer demand will drive adoption and that the Aurora Driver will be valuable; customers prefer OEMs but will want Aurora on the vehicles they can get. They noted the 30,000 number is cumulative and a small percentage of the roughly 250,000 trucks built per year, and they emphasized they will keep telling the story about safety, sustainability and cost benefits.
"Our expectation is that the Aurora Driver is going to be incredibly valuable to our customers." — Christopher Urmson (CEO)
MOU negotiation progress and policy outlook
Q (Colin Rusch · Oppenheimer): The analyst asked for an update on negotiations to reach definitive agreements from MOUs, timing, and key outstanding elements. They also asked how management views prospects for federal autonomous trucking legislation after the election.
A: Management said the MOUs already contain the core elements and they are working to standardize agreements to speed future signings; pricing and volumes are already aligned, and remaining topics are operational items like servicing, disposal and second-life usage. On policy, they said there is strong, supportive engagement from the Executive branch and Congress, noted bipartisan progress on the BUILD America 250 Act language, and said they are somewhat optimistic but watching near-term political developments.
"We have all of the, kind of, core elements of those agreements were negotiated as part of the MOU." — Christopher Urmson (CEO)
Material delays, margin, weigh stations
Q (Aman Gupta · Goldman Sachs): The analyst asked whether material availability caused higher component pricing that would hurt margins or free cash flow and whether this affects Investor Day targets. They also asked about capabilities for weigh stations and security checkpoints and how Aurora integrates with typical truck workflow.
A: Management said the issues are not about higher per-component costs but about launching a new second-generation hardware platform and ensuring part quality; they sometimes changed suppliers for quality, and this was cost neutral or could save money, and Fabrinet kits are ahead of the truck build so material issues are mostly behind them. On operations, they said they built the capability to detect, enter and traverse weigh stations in partnership with state authorities, and they will keep adding features like fueling-station routing and yard navigation as customers need them.
"This is more about us moving and developing an all-new platform on our second-generation hardware and making sure that we have the right quality and reliability of the parts that we have." — David Maday (CFO)
DaaS pipeline and endpoint costs
Q (Cole Couzens · Wolfe): The analyst asked how big the near-term DaaS pipeline is beyond public MOUs and when those will convert to purchases, and asked how costly facility endpoint changes are to support wider adoption.
A: Management said they will not disclose a backlog now and prefer to discuss MOUs with negotiated core terms. They expect the two MOUs (1,000 trucks) to convert, are finalizing contracts with multiple customers, expect TaaS customers to also want DaaS, and said operations can run from existing facilities with minimal incremental staff for pre-trip and launch tasks, so endpoint costs are not seen as material.
"So like that's going to be 1,000 trucks right there that we expect to convert." — David Maday (CFO)