Aurora Innovation Inc. will help move cargo for FedEx Corp. in a pilot project in Texas that uses the startup’s technology in a self-driving Paccar Inc. truck. The arrangement marks FedEx’s first trial of autonomous driving.

The vehicles will carry several loads a week for FedEx between Dallas and Houston, with a safety driver behind the wheel and a co-pilot in the passenger seat. The trucks will make the 500-mile (about 800 kilometers) round trips along the Interstate Highway 45 corridor, the companies said Wednesday…

FedEx is playing catch-up in autonomous driving to rival, United Parcel Service Inc., which took a stake in startup TuSimple in 2019 and has been testing the technology since then.

The Aurora-FedEx venture’s first delivery runs will start this week and the package giant will own the vehicles, Sterling said.

Aurora plans to launch a full commercial trucking business, which won’t use safety drivers, in late 2023.
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