It’s shaping up to be the year of the driverless truck, with several autonomous-vehicle (AV) tech companies slated to take the major step of removing human drivers from the cabin.

Among them is Pittsburgh-based Aurora Innovation, which has emerged as a leader in a consolidated field of competitors in the autonomous-trucking sector. The startup was founded in 2017 and went public via a SPAC in 2021; it now has a market cap of more than $4.5 billion.

Aurora is preparing to start running driverless routes by the end of 2024, bolstered by the $820 million in funding it raised last year, according to PitchBook data. Some of its competitors, including Kodiak Robotics, are also planning to ditch human drivers this year.

Such steps would mark major milestones in a sector that has experienced a slew of setbacks in recent months, particularly in the robotaxi space. Negative attention and regulatory scrutiny have mounted around the deployment of self-driving cars following a pedestrian crash involving a Cruise robotaxi in San Francisco.

Cruise recently released third-party findings that detailed technical failures that contributed to the incident. The GM-backed startup also revealed that it’s being investigated by the Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The fallout has underscored the challenges of safely scaling up AV technology. So it was an opportune time for Tech Brew to catch up with one of the industry’s leading safety experts: Nat Beuse, who stepped into the role of Aurora’s chief safety officer last year. Beuse served in leadership roles at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), the auto industry’s top regulator, for nearly 20 years before jumping to the private sector.

This conversation, the first of two parts, has been edited for length and clarity.

2024 looks like it’s going to be a really big year for the self-driving sector overall. What’s in store for you guys?

2024 is a big year for us…We’ve had an industry that has naturally gone through some consolidation, which presents opportunities for those of us that have a clear line of sight of what success looks like. When you look at the trucking space in particular, there’s been a ton of activity on the Aurora side. Whether it’s our deal that we signed with Continental, an industry-leading approach where we are putting the partnerships in place to actually do things at scale. You can’t put computers in thousands of trucks without a Tier 1 supplier.

Keep reading here.—JG

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The US EV transition may be going through some growing pains, but January appears to have been another strong month for car buyers’ new favorite thing: hybrids.

Across major automakers like Honda, Hyundai, and Ford, hybrid vehicles helped boost what otherwise was a lackluster month for the industry.

Hybrid versions of Honda’s Accord and CR-V models, for example, recorded their best-ever January results. And though Ford’s battery-electric vehicle sales fell from a year ago, hybrid sales leapt 42.7% YoY.

Even if hybrids’ market share drops, it’s not for lack of demand—it’s that automakers “simply can’t make enough of them,” Ivan Drury, Edmunds’ director of insights, told Tech Brew.

Keep reading here.—JG

High-speed, at-home broadband access can be directly tied to higher quality of life for many rural residents, according to new findings from Cox Communications.

In a report released last week, the internet company said 86% of new customers surveyed reported that receiving access to faster and better service “improved their lives.” The difference was most stark for households that make less than $50,000 a year, where home broadband service was “twice as likely to greatly improve the education” of children in those households, compared with homes that make more than $50,000 annually.

“Our survey shows that a high-speed internet connection brings optimism and economic prosperity to rural communities,” Mark Greatrex, president of Cox Communications, said in a statement. “By connecting these households, residents are empowered to learn, increase their earning potential, and thrive.”

Internet access not only helps children learn; it can also unlock new job opportunities and keep young adults from leaving town to search for work. Nearly three-fourths of respondents who are 30 or younger said improved broadband service encouraged them to stay in their communities, and 62% said it afforded them better access to online and remote work.

This has been true for the Muscogee Nation in the area of Tulsa, Oklahoma, according to Zechariah Harjo, the nation’s secretary. Speaking Thursday at a Washington, DC, event where Cox unveiled the results of its study, he said that public-private partnerships with companies like Cox are key to getting rural areas connected.

Keep reading here.—KG