USA-based Aurora Innovation has unveiled a test fleet of autonomous Toyota Sienna vehicles featuring Toyota’s Vehicle Control Interface (VCI) and Sienna Autono-MaaS (S-AM) platform. The Toyota S-AM will serve as the backbone platform for the expected launch of Aurora Connect, an autonomous ride-hailing product.
Aurora has worked with Toyota Motor North America’s engineering team over the last year to establish and refine the requirements needed to integrate with its Aurora Driver software and hardware stack. Since unveiling a prototype last fall, Aurora has further refined its hardware while Toyota built a larger fleet of platform vehicles. Aurora is now autonomously testing the fleet on highways and suburban streets in Texas.
“We congratulate Aurora on reaching their milestone of integrating its Aurora Driver technology onto our Toyota Autono-MaaS platform vehicle,” said Ted Ogawa, president and CEO of Toyota Motor North America. “The route represented what we would expect going to the airport in the future, and we look forward to seeing Aurora’s future deployment plans.”
Aurora notes that its investment in a ‘Common Core of Technology’ enabled the fleet to “inherit” all the learnings and capabilities of Aurora’s next-generation trucks. According to the company, the fresh fleet of Toyota Sienna vehicles achieved system performance parity with its legacy truck fleet within six weeks of commencing on-road testing.