“The demand for sand in the Permian Basin has prompted Detmar Logistics to reach an agreement with Aurora Innovation to provide autonomous trucks to transport proppant around the clock for one of the world’s largest multinational oil and gas companies. This will mark the first time frac sand will be hauled autonomously on public roads and highways in the Permian Basin. It also establishes one of Aurora’s initial routes between customer sites — a key milestone as the company expands its network beyond terminal-to-terminal operations next year…
The partnership will begin with supervised autonomous operations between Detmar’s facility in Midland and Capital Sand’s mining site in Monahans early next year utilizing Peterbilt trucks from Aurora’s original fleet. The route combines high-speed driving on Interstate 20 with local and private roads surrounding Detmar’s facility and the mining site. Notably, Aurora is delivering advanced capabilities at the mining site, including autonomously navigating overhead filling silos for proppant loading.
Under the initial contract, Detmar commits to using 30 Aurora Driver-powered trucks in 2026, with each unit hauling sand for over 20 hours a day. Alongside their human operated fleet and network of valued independent contractors, Detmar also plans to own and operate an expanded fleet of Aurora Driver-powered trucks in the future as the technology is adopted and broadly deployed.”
