Aurora plans profit by 2028 as driverless trucks grow

Thanks, Daniel. Aurora is making a big push with driverless trucks in Texas.

So this is not just a test drive anymore?

No, it is already on real highways.

The company is running fully autonomous semis on Interstate 45.

That route is between Houston and Dallas.

It is also on I-20.

That road runs between Fort Worth and El Paso.

Those are long routes with a lot of trucks.

Yes, and Chris Urmson says the trucks use lasers, radar, and cameras.

He says they help the truck see around it.

He says they help it drive safely.

That sounds very technical.

It also sounds very practical.

It is practical for freight companies.

Aurora says a driverless truck can work more efficiently.

It also says it can cost less than a truck with a driver.

And the company has numbers for that plan?

Yes. It has 20 driverless trucks on the road now.

It wants 200 by the end of this year.

That is a very fast jump.

It is.

Aurora is also targeting positive free cash flow by 2028.

That means the business wants to bring in more cash than it spends.

So the key question is whether customers will pay for it.

Right.

The company says customers pay by the mile in its model.

It calls it “driver as a service.”

And what does that promise to freight companies?

Aurora says it can help them save money on fuel.

It also says it can move goods faster.

And it says it can help when companies cannot hire enough drivers.

But not everyone in the industry sounds fully convinced.

No.

One shipping executive said drivers do more than move the truck.

He said they also provide judgment, customer service, and protection.

So the promise is lower cost, but the worries are about people.

Thanks, Grace.

Meta’s Muse app is climbing fast.

Amazon has already blocked it.

Now we go to Owen, our LinguaWire correspondent for technology.

Thanks, Daniel. Muse is getting a lot of attention very quickly.

The App Store ranking is the first thing that stands out.

Yes, Muse now sits at the top of Apple’s App Store.

It is ahead of ChatGPT.

And the download numbers are moving fast too?

They are.

Since Meta launched Muse two weeks ago, the app has passed 2.5 million downloads.

That is according to market data shared with journalists.

That is a big start for a new app.

It is, and it sits in a wider change.

Some retail experts say this is part of agentic shopping.

That means AI tools do tasks for you.

They do more than only answer questions.

So the app is not just chatting.

No.

Muse can compare deals.

It can track down products.

It can also book a flight and watch for price drops.

That sounds useful, especially when shopping gets messy.

That is the idea.

One retail analyst said many people already use AI to research products.

He also said they use it to look for deals.

But Amazon is not welcoming it.

No.

Amazon confirmed that it has blocked the app from shopping on its platform.

It gave security and user experience as reasons.

So there is clear interest, but also clear pushback.

Exactly.

Another research company found that ChatGPT still had more downloads over the same period.

Claude had far fewer.

That makes the story feel bigger than one app.

It does.

The real news is that AI shopping tools are moving from test ideas.

They are becoming real consumer products.

Big companies are already reacting.

Let’s look at three useful words from the first story.

road

A road is a street or highway. In the story, “road” was used in “20 driverless trucks on the road now.” Example: We saw snow on the road this morning.

fleet

A fleet is a group of vehicles. In the story, “fleet” was used in “grow the autonomous fleet to 200 trucks.” Example: The company added three buses to its fleet.

mile

A mile is a unit for distance. In the story, “mile” was used in “customers pay by the mile.” Example: The run was five miles long.

A useful pattern here is the present simple with he, she, or it.

We use it for facts and general truths.

With he, she, or it, many verbs add -s.

believe, believes, believe

“Aurora believes its ‘driver as a service’ business model”

“Muse is getting a lot of attention very quickly”

Repeat after me: Aurora believes