Though National Safety Month is in June, safety is never in the rearview mirror at Aurora. We’re reflecting on everything our team learned and shared last month, and how we’ll carry these lessons forward.
Reinforcing the best safety practices at Aurora empowers our team to learn more about how our work can save lives and improve the communities in which we operate. Here’s how we’re putting our safety approach into practice:
1. In conversation with Karen Rasmussen, Aurora Safety Advisory Board member
Karen Rasmussen, Executive Director of the Independent Carrier Safety Association, joined us for a company-wide meeting where we discussed the current state of the trucking industry and the benefits of autonomous vehicle technology.
2. Best-in-class safety talent
We’re incredibly proud of our diverse and experienced team at Aurora. Our team members have decades of safety experience across many safety-critical industries including self-driving and aerospace, and that’s why we’re confident in our ability to deliver the benefits of self-driving safely, quickly, and broadly.
Recently, Truck Operations Instructor Ashley Mcclain touched on her career in trucking, how safety is integral to everything our Vehicle Operators do, and why she's excited about a future with autonomous technology.
3. The power of speaking up: Emphasizing Safety Concern Reporting
Some of our most critical technological improvements result from safety concerns that are elevated and then carefully reviewed and addressed. A key ingredient in our Safety Management System is our non-retaliation Safety Concern Reporting policy, which encourages everyone at Aurora, from our vehicle operators to our CEO, to play a role in safety by speaking up if something doesn’t meet Aurora’s standard of safety.
4. Managing stress: Mental health & workplace safety
We hosted Katharine Manning, author of the Empathetic Workplace, to share how to identify and manage burnout. Cultivating an environment of psychological safety is essential to delivering positive safety outcomes.
5. “Safety chose me”: Growing a safety career at Aurora
Each month, one of our leaders hosts a coffee chat with employees where they share their career story, their leadership philosophy, and how they engage and collaborate with diverse perspectives. For National Safety Month, Senior Director of Organizational Safety Chris Mullen shared advice on driving motivation with achievement, the power of understanding your business impact, and cultivating strong connections with your network.
6. A matter of principle: Unpacking our Safety Case Framework
Aurora’s Safety Case Framework is made up of five key principles supported by hundreds of pieces of evidence that show how we build safety into the core of our development process. We know it’s complex, so we created a video to help break down our approach and demonstrate why safety is a priority:
7. Putting it all into practice: Demonstrating our Fault Management System
Our Fault Management System allows the Aurora Driver to detect issues and respond by safely pulling over to the side of the road without any human involvement, an essential capability to safely operate autonomous vehicle fleets for our commercial customers, at scale. In January, we outlined our 2022 product milestones, emphasizing our plans to demonstrate our fail-safe system by Q3 of this year. We delivered on this promise one quarter early, bringing us one step closer to delivering a commercial product.
Safety is at the core of everything we do—from how we test and develop our technology to the team culture we create. Our commitment to this safety-first approach empowers Aurora employees to deliver the benefits of self-driving technology safely, quickly, and broadly.
