Berkshire Hathaway distribution giant McLane deploying driverless freight trucks with Aurora across Sun Belt

Berkshire Hathaway's McLane started a pilot program with autonomous trucking company Aurora Innovation in 2023 which now runs two round-trips daily between Dallas and Houston, seven days a week. McLane is now planning new autonomous freight routes between its distribution centers and restaurants across the U.S. Sun Belt by year-end, and has plans to cover additional McLane business in the future. Aurora Innovation Berkshire Hathaway subsidiary McLane is planning to deploy self-driving trucking technology from Aurora Innovation on routes in Texas and across the U.S. Sun Belt by the end of the year, expanding on an autonomous freight pilot program the companies began in 2023. Tempe, Texas-based McLane is one of the largest distribution companies in the U.S., with more than 80 distribution centers that cover nearly every zip code in the country, and 25,000 employees. It will use the Aurora Driver technology in long-haul trucking to move supplies, including perishables, to restaurant brands. The existing pilot included two round-trips daily between Dallas and Houston, seven days a week, with what is called "supervised" autonomous technology controlling the "middle mile" in long-haul trucking, while McLane drivers take over for last-mile local delivery of loads to customers using separate trucks. Since 2023, McLane routes using this technology logged 280,000 autonomous miles in Texas, covering 1,400 loads delivered to restaurants. …