aur-20221027

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

Pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d)

of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934

Date of report (Date of earliest event reported): October 27, 2022

AURORA INNOVATION, INC.
(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

Delaware

001-40216

98-1562265

(State or other jurisdiction of
incorporation or organization)

(Commission File Number)

(I.R.S. Employer
Identification Number)


1654 Smallman St, Pittsburgh, PA						15222
(Address of principal executive offices)						(Zip Code)

(Registrant’s telephone number, including area code)

(Former name or former address, if changed since last report)

Check the appropriate box below if the Form 8-K filing is intended to simultaneously satisfy the filing obligation of the registrant under any of the following provisions:

☐ Written communications pursuant to Rule 425 under the Securities Act (17 CFR 230.425)

☐ Soliciting material pursuant to Rule 14a-12 under the Exchange Act (17 CFR 240.14a-12)

☐ Pre-commencement communications pursuant to Rule 14d-2(b) under the Exchange Act (17 CFR 240.14d-2(b))

☐ Pre-commencement communications pursuant to Rule 13e-4(c) under the Exchange Act (17 CFR 240.13e-4(c))

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:

Title of each class

Trading

Symbol(s)

Name of each

exchange on which registered

Class A common stock, par value $0.00001 per share

AUR

The Nasdaq Stock Market LLC

Redeemable warrants, each whole warrant exercisable for one share of Class A common stock at an exercise price of $11.50

AUROW

The Nasdaq Stock Market LLC

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is an emerging growth company as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act of 1933 (§ 230.405) or Rule 12b-2 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (§ 240.12b-2).

Emerging growth company ☒

If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act. ☐

Item 7.01 Regulation FD Disclosures.

On October 27, 2022, Aurora Innovation, Inc. (the "Company" or "Aurora") published a digital newsletter which reaffirms the Company's expected timeline to commercialization, as shown in the Company's product roadmap. A copy of the news letter is attached hereto as Exhibit 99.1 and is incorporated herein by reference. A copy of the Company's roadmap is attached hereto as Exhibit 99.2 and is incorporated herein by reference.

The information in this Item 7.01 (including the exhibit) shall not be deemed to be “filed” for purposes of Section 18 of the Exchange Act, or otherwise subject to the liabilities of that section and is not incorporated by reference into any filing under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or the Exchange Act.

Item 9.01. Financial Statements and Exhibits.


Exhibit No.						Description

99.1						Digital newsletter , dated October 27, 2022.

99.2						Product roadmap.

104						Cover Page Interactive Data File.

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, hereunto duly authorized.

Dated: October 27, 2022



AURORA INNOVATION, INC.

By:						/s/ Richard Tame
Name:						Richard Tame
Title:						Chief Financial Officer

Subject Line: On seismic shifts and steady progress—a note from Chris Urmson

Sorry to interrupt your regularly scheduled programming, but major news was announced in the self-driving industry yesterday and I wanted to share my perspective.

Argo is shutting down.

First, my thoughts are with Bryan Salesky and the entire Argo team—this industry is small, we all know each other well, and many of us here at Aurora have worked with the Argo team, watched them grow, and seen the impact they’ve made. It is disappointing, and it is unfortunate, and their absence will be felt in Pittsburgh and in the larger AV industry.

But I also want to be clear that this is not a signal that a future with self-driving technology isn’t real or imminent. In fact, it’s quite the opposite. Waymo recently announced the expansion of their robotaxi fleet to LA. Cruise is charging for their driverless robotaxi rides in San Francisco.

And as for us? We’ve long believed that long-haul trucking is the best way to enter the market, and that it will be the first vertical within the autonomous vehicle industry to generate significant revenue, so that has been our focus.

1.We’re making autonomous freight deliveries every day for pilot customers like FedEx, Werner, Schneider, and Uber Freight. In fact, if you got a FedEx parcel that got shipped from Houston, there’s a chance that it sat in one of our trucks on the way to you.

2.We have close, collaborative partnerships with PACCAR and Volvo Trucks (which together produce almost 50% of all Class 8 trucks in the United States) and with major transportation leaders like Toyota and Uber. These companies see the long-term value of autonomous vehicles, and our independence gives them the ability to invest in it without shouldering the cost of developing this technology alone.

3. Finally, we have a clear path, plan, and timeline to market.

I have been in this industry for nearly two decades, and in this moment, right now, I believe we have never been closer to delivering self-driving vehicles to the world. More importantly, this technology has never been needed more. Over 40,000 people died in car crashes last year, up 10% from the previous year. Trucking is an over $700B business, moving over 72% of the nation's freight by weight, but we just don’t have enough drivers to move it all. It’s also dangerous – there are almost half a million accidents involving trucks a year. Self-driving technology is not a science project. It is one of the next major technological innovations that will transform our society—for the better—and we are making consistent, steady, and exciting progress towards getting there.

So, with that, I turn you back to The Dashboard and to some meaningful updates from the last month—including more detail about how our autonomous trucking service Aurora Horizon will work for customers when we launch and how we train the Aurora Driver to safely respond to pedestrians.

Oh, and one more thing. We’re hiring! We have over 160 positions available across the country, and we need a team with the expertise, commitment, and passion for taking on this once-in-a-

generation opportunity head-on. If that sounds like you and you want to be on the team that gets this technology on our roads and transforms transportation, please come join us.

The How of Aurora Horizon

We believe that when we launch our autonomous trucking service, Aurora Horizon, it will pave the way for a safer and more reliable way to move goods, transforming the $700 billion logistics industry. But how will it actually work? Learn how our service can improve operations before, during, and after a delivery.

Prioritizing pedestrian safety

October is National Pedestrian Safety Month, so we’re shedding some light on how we train the Aurora Driver to make our roads safer for vulnerable road users, like pedestrians and bicyclists. Learn more about how we collect data and train the Aurora Driver to detect and respond to vulnerable road users from hundreds of meters away and what types of examples we see most during our autonomous deliveries in Texas.

Keeping our eyes on the road(map) with our Beta 4 release

The countdown to the Aurora Driver being Feature Complete is on. We committed to releasing two new capabilities in Q3 this year—safely detecting and responding to road debris and lane markings that may have shifted due to construction.

Learn more more about why these capabilities are crucial to the launch of Aurora Horizon and how we’re continuously adding new capabilities and improving existing capabilities.

Last month, we invited analysts and investors to our terminal in Palmer, Texas to take a ride in an Aurora-Driver-powered Peterbilt and hear from our leaders about Aurora’s path towards progressing both our technology and business towards commercialization. Highlights included a keynote delivered by our CEO Chris Urmson on why he believes autonomy is the future of freight and a fireside chat between our VP of Safety, Nat Beuse, and Chair of our Safety Advisory Board and former NHTSA Administrator, Dr. Jeff Runge, focused on safety and building trust in self-driving technology.

One of our core values is to celebrate our diversity, so we took the opportunity to recognize Global Diversity Awareness Month with a month of programming and events inside the company led by our Aurora Unified Groups (AUGs).

As part of our celebration, we featured Tovah Cook from Marketing in our Aurora Voices series. She talked about using design to communicate complex ideas and break down barriers—and that’s what she does as a leader on our Creative team and a lead of the Black@ Aurora Unified Group.

Greymatter—The Road Ahead

In August, Chris spoke with Reid Hoffman and Nuro CEO Jiajun Zhu for Greylock’s Intelligent Future event, a summit featuring leading experts and entrepreneurs in AI. Tune in to learn more about the potential and challenges of AI in autonomous driving, the huge leaps forward it’s taken in the field in recent years, and what our driverless future could look like.

Listen to the podcast here

LinkedIn News—Masters of Scale Summit

Chris joined LinkedIn Senior Editor Jessi Hempel for an interview at last week’s Masters of Scale Summit, where he outlined the state of the self-driving industry, recent progress, and how Aurora’s autonomous trucking technology stands to revolutionize how goods move safely and efficiently from point A to point B.

Cover	Oct. 27, 2022
Document Information [Line Items]
Document Type	8-K
Document Period End Date	Oct. 27, 2022
Entity Registrant Name	AURORA INNOVATION, INC.
Entity Incorporation, State or Country Code	DE
Entity File Number	001-40216
Entity Tax Identification Number	98-1562265
Entity Address, Address Line One	1654 Smallman St
Entity Address, City or Town	Pittsburgh
Entity Address, State or Province	PA
Entity Address, Postal Zip Code	15222
Written Communications	false
Soliciting Material	false
Pre-commencement Tender Offer	false
Pre-commencement Issuer Tender Offer	false
Entity Emerging Growth Company	true
Entity Ex Transition Period	false
Amendment Flag	false
Entity Central Index Key	0001828108
City Area Code	888
Local Phone Number	583-9506
Common Class A
Document Information [Line Items]
Title of 12(b) Security	Class A common stock, par value $0.00001 per share
Trading Symbol	AUR
Security Exchange Name	NASDAQ
Warrant
Document Information [Line Items]
Title of 12(b) Security	Redeemable warrants, each whole warrant exercisable for one share of Class A common stock at an exercise price of $11.50
Trading Symbol	AUROW
Security Exchange Name	NASDAQ