• Aurora Innovation, an autonomous vehicle technology startup, has partnered with Covenant Logistics Group, a transportation services provider, to explore opportunities to use Aurora’s autonomous trucking solutions within Covenant’s long-haul operations.

• Initially, the companies will look to identify routes that can optimize the use of autonomous trucking, optimize fuel efficiency, and maximize up-time of Covenant’s fleet by using autonomous trucks 24/7. They will also educate the transportation and logistics industry on the benefits of autonomous technology.

<ul><li> Analyst QuickTake: Today’s partnership will help Aurora to refine its technology ahead of a planned commercial launch in 2023. Furthermore, the company has secured several other deployment partnerships with companies including FedEx (September 2021), Uber Freight (December 2021), US Xpress (February 2022), and Werner Enterprises (April 2022) for deliveries mostly in Texas. On a separate note, we noticed Covenant, as a leading transportation company, being actively engaged in introducing sustainable transportation solutions into its vehicle fleets. In fact, the company ordered 10 battery-electric and 40 hydrogen fuel cell-electric trucks from Nikola Motor Company earlier this year.</ul>