Shares of autonomous trucking start-up Aurora Innovation (AUR 30.23%) were trading sharply higher on Tuesday morning, after the company announced a major deal with Nvidia and Continental to build thousands of self-driving trucks.

As of 10:15 a.m. ET, Aurora's shares were up about 30.3% from Monday's closing price.

A big-name partner for a major self-driving truck project

In a statement released late on Monday night, Aurora announced a "long-term strategic partnership" with Nvidia and German auto industry supplier Continental under which Nvidia computing hardware will be a key component of the self-driving truck system that Aurora and Continental plan to build at scale starting in 2027.

Aurora plans to deploy self-driving trucks in Texas this spring, and to make its technology available at scale in 2027. Image source: Aurora Innovation.

Aurora has been working for several years to develop a self-driving system for heavy trucks. Called the Aurora Driver, the system is now close to completing its final validation. Aurora plans to use the system to launch a driverless trucking service in Texas in April.

Part of the news here is that the Aurora system will incorporate two Nvidia DRIVE Thor systems-on-a-chip. DRIVE Thor, optimized for autonomous vehicles, is built on Nvidia's latest Blackwell chip architecture.

Aurora and Continental had previously announced that they will begin mass production of Aurora's system, which can be retrofitted to existing semitrucks, in 2027.

Aurora has flown under investors' radar. That's changing.

I think Aurora -- and its stock -- has flown a bit under investors' radar for the last few years. Unlike some flashier start-ups, the Pittsburgh-based company has continued to make steady progress toward its long-term goal of safely automating heavy trucks amid a long-term shortage of qualified commercial truck drivers.

My take is that it's an intriguing, well-run company that is worth a fresh look from investors who might be weary of the whole "robotaxi" debate. This isn't robotaxis and it isn't hype; it's a real effort to bring safe self-driving heavy trucks to America's highways, and it's getting close to being a reality.