Summary of Significant Accounting Policies	12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2025
Accounting Policies [Abstract]
Summary of Significant Accounting Policies	Summary of Significant Accounting Policies Basis of Presentation The consolidated financial statements include the accounts of the Company and its controlled subsidiaries. Intercompany balances and transactions between the Company and its controlled subsidiaries have been eliminated. The preparation of these consolidated financial statements in conformity with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (“GAAP”) requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the amounts reported. Actual results could differ from those estimates. Revenue Recognition The Company recognizes revenue on its transportation services as goods are transported from one location to another utilizing an over time model as the services are provided. Revenues are presented net of tax when transactions are subject to taxes, such as sales tax, that are assessed by governmental authorities. Incremental costs of obtaining a contract and costs to fulfill a contract are not material. Cost of Revenue Cost of revenue includes costs of the self-driving system hardware depreciation and maintenance expense, personnel costs, terminal related costs when required, insurance, telecommunications, and amortization of acquired intangibles. When services are provided using vehicles owned by the Company, cost of revenue also includes truck depreciation and maintenance expense, and fuel. Cash, Cash Equivalents and Restricted Cash Cash and cash equivalents are deposits and highly liquid investments that are readily convertible to known amounts of cash and are subject to insignificant risk of change including due to interest rate, quoted price, or penalty of withdrawal. U.S. Treasury securities with a maturity, when purchased, of 90 days or less are considered to be cash equivalents. Restricted cash consists of funds that are contractually restricted as to usage or withdrawal, typically due to the Company’s operating lease agreements. Due to these restrictions, the Company has presented restricted cash separately from cash and cash equivalents on the balance sheet within other current assets and other assets on the consolidated balance sheet. Short-term and Long-term Investments The Company’s short-term and long-term investments in U.S. Treasury securities, commercial paper, and corporate bonds have been classified and accounted for as available-for-sale. The Company measures short-term and long-term investments at fair value on a recurring basis based on quoted market prices, and unrealized gains and losses, net of taxes, are included in other comprehensive loss. Upon sale, realized gains and losses are recognized in other income (expense), net on the statements of operations. No impairment losses have been recognized on short-term and long-term investments in the periods presented. Fair Value Measurements Fair value is defined as the price that would be received to sell an asset or paid to transfer a liability in an orderly transaction between market participants at the measurement date. In determining fair value, management uses a fair value hierarchy, which prioritizes the inputs used to measure fair value. The three levels of the fair value hierarchy are set forth below: Level 1: Observable inputs such as quoted prices in active markets for identical assets or liabilities. Level 2: Observable inputs other than Level 1 prices such as quoted prices for similar assets or liabilities in active markets, quoted prices in markets that are not active or inputs other than the quoted prices that are observable either directly or indirectly for the full term of the assets or liabilities. Level 3: Unobservable inputs in which there is little or no market data and that are significant to the fair value of the assets or liabilities. Our primary financial instruments include cash, cash equivalents, restricted cash, investments, accounts payable, accrued liabilities, and derivative liabilities. For the financial instruments not measured at fair value on a recurring basis, their estimated fair value approximates their carrying value due to the short-term maturities of these instruments. Property and Equipment, Net Property and equipment are recorded at cost and depreciated using the straight-line method over the estimated useful lives, which is twenty years for buildings; the shorter of the lease term and the estimated useful life (up to seven years) for leasehold improvements; and over three to five years for all other asset categories. Leases The Company determines whether a contract contains a lease at inception. The Company leases real estate and equipment which have been recognized as operating leases, except for those leases with a lease term of 12 months or less which are recognized as short-term leases and expensed on a straight-line basis. Variable lease payments that do not depend on an index or rate are not included in the initial measurement of operating lease liabilities. Certain lease contracts include non-lease components, such as operations and maintenance. The Company combines and accounts for lease and these non-lease components as a single lease component. Certain real estate leases include one or more options to renew; the exercise of lease renewal options is at the Company’s discretion and is included in the lease term when it is determined that the options are reasonably certain to be exercised. The discount rates utilized to measure operating lease liabilities are generally based on estimates of the Company’s incremental borrowing rate, as the discount rates implicit in lease agreements cannot be readily determined. Acquired Intangible Assets and Long-Lived Assets Acquired intangible assets primarily consist of one asset class of developed technology from various business combinations. These assets were in-process research and development (“IPR&D”) until the assets were placed into service during the three months ended June 30, 2025. An estimated useful life of 10 years was assigned for the period over which the technology is expected to contribute to the future cash flows of the Company in commercial self-driving applications. These assets are amortized over the estimated useful life in proportion to the economic benefits received via revenue recognized. The acquired intangible assets had an aggregate carrying amount of $617 million as of December 31, 2025. Amortization for the year ended December 31, 2025 was not significant. The Company evaluates the estimated remaining useful life of its intangible assets and whether events or changes in circumstances warrant a revision to the remaining period of amortization at each period end. Acquired intangible assets are subject to impairment considerations whenever events or circumstances indicate that the carrying amounts may not be recoverable. No impairment losses were recognized on acquired intangible assets during the periods presented. Long-lived assets, such as property and equipment and operating lease right-of-use assets, are reviewed for impairment whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that the carrying amounts may not be recoverable. The Company performs impairment testing at the level that represents the lowest level for which identifiable cash flows are largely independent of the cash flows of other assets and liabilities. Recoverability is measured by comparing the carrying amounts to the expected future undiscounted cash flows attributable to the assets. If it is determined that an asset may not be recoverable, an impairment is recognized to the extent that the carrying amount exceeds its fair value. No material impairment losses were recognized on long-lived assets during the periods presented. Research and Development Research and development costs are expensed as incurred, and consist primarily of personnel costs, hardware and electrical engineering prototyping, cloud computing, data labeling, and third-party development services. To date, the Company has not capitalized software development costs related to the continued development and commercialization of the Aurora Driver at scale due to the remaining planning, designing, coding and testing activities necessary for technology validation and safe autonomous operation. Stock-based Compensation The Company measures stock-based compensation using the fair value based method on the grant date. Restricted stock units (“RSUs”) are measured based on fair value of the Company’s publicly traded common stock, while stock options are measured using a Black-Scholes option pricing model with assumptions including expected term, risk-free interest rate, and expected volatility. Due to the Company’s limited historical stock option exercise experience as a public company, the expected term of stock options is determined utilizing the simplified method based on vesting and contractual terms. The expected volatility is determined based on our historical equity volatility as well as the historical volatility of comparable public companies over the expected term of the stock option. The risk-free interest rate is based on the U.S. Treasury yield curve in effect at the time of grant. Stock-based compensation for awards with only service conditions is recognized on a straight-line basis over the requisite service period, which is generally the vesting period, while awards with service and performance conditions is recognized on a graded-vesting basis over the requisite service period. The Company recognizes the effect of forfeitures in the period they occur. Derivative Liabilities The Company accounts for the public and private placement stock purchase warrants (collectively “the warrants”) as derivative liabilities. The liabilities are measured at fair value on a recurring basis with any changes in fair value reflected in the statement of operations until the warrants are exercised, redeemed, or expire. On November 3, 2021, the Company consummated a business combination with Legacy Aurora and RTPY Merger Sub Inc. pursuant to an Agreement and Plan of Merger dated July 14, 2021 (the “Merger Agreement” and the transactions contemplated thereby, the “Merger”). The Company accounts for shares held by Reinvent Sponsor Y LLC (the “Sponsor”) not forfeited under the terms of the Merger Agreement and subject to price based vesting terms (the “Earnout Shares”) as derivative liabilities. The liability is measured at fair value on a recurring basis with any changes in fair value reflected in the statement of operations until the vesting conditions are met or the shares expire. Income Taxes The Company accounts for income taxes using the asset-and-liability method. Deferred tax assets and liabilities are recognized based upon the temporary differences between the financial reporting and tax basis of assets and liabilities using enacted rates in effect for the years in which the differences are expected to reverse. Valuation allowances are established when necessary to reduce the deferred tax assets when it is more likely than not that a portion or all of the deferred tax assets will not be realized. The Company records uncertain tax positions on the basis of a two-step process in which: (1) the Company determines whether it is more likely than not that the tax positions will be sustained on the basis of technical merits of the position, and (2) for those tax positions that meet the more likely than not recognition threshold, the Company recognizes the tax benefit as the largest amount that is cumulatively more likely than not to be realized upon ultimate settlement with the related tax authority. Commitments and Contingencies Liabilities for loss contingencies arising from claims, assessments, litigation, fines, and penalties and other sources are recorded when it is probable that a liability has been incurred and the amount can be reasonably estimated. Legal costs incurred in connection with loss contingencies are expensed as incurred. Certain Risks and Uncertainties The Company’s operations are principally funded by available liquidity from cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments. Management expects to continue to incur operating losses and that the Company will need to opportunistically raise additional capital to support the continued development and commercialization of the Aurora Driver at scale. Management believes that cash on hand and short-term investments will be sufficient to meet its working capital and capital expenditure requirements for a period of at least twelve months from the date of these financial statements. Financial instruments that potentially subject the Company to concentration of credit risk consist primarily of cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments. The Company primarily maintains its cash and cash equivalents at U.S. commercial banks, while its short-term investments primarily consist of U.S. Treasury securities. Cash and cash equivalents deposited with domestic commercial banks generally exceed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation insurable limit, though the Company has not experienced any credit losses on its deposits. Recent Accounting Pronouncements In December 2023, the FASB issued Accounting Standards Update 2023-09, Income Taxes (Topic 740): Improvements to Income Tax Disclosures, which requires disaggregated information about a reporting entity's effective tax rate reconciliation as well as information on income taxes paid to enhance the transparency and decision usefulness of income tax disclosures. The updated standard is effective for the Company’s fiscal 2025 annual period. See Note 11. Income Taxes for the Company’s disclosures for this standard. In November 2024, the FASB issued Accounting Standards Update 2024-03, Disaggregation of Income Statement Expenses, which requires annual and interim disclosure of disaggregated disclosures of certain costs and expenses on the income statement. The standard is effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2026, and interim periods within fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2027, with early adoption permitted. Amendments are applied on a prospective basis with retrospective application permitted. The Company is currently evaluating the impact of this guidance. In September 2025, the FASB issued Accounting Standards Update 2025-06, Targeted Improvements to the Accounting for Internal-Use Software, which modernizes and simplifies the guidance for capitalizing costs related to internal-use software by removing the stage-based approach and aligning the disclosure requirements with those for other long-lived assets. The standard is effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2027, with early adoption permitted. The amendments may be applied prospectively or using a modified retrospective approach. The Company is currently evaluating the impact of this guidance.

The consolidated financial statements include the accounts of the Company and its controlled subsidiaries. Intercompany balances and transactions between the Company and its controlled subsidiaries have been eliminated.

The preparation of these consolidated financial statements in conformity with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (“GAAP”) requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the amounts reported. Actual results could differ from those estimates.

Cost of revenue includes costs of the self-driving system hardware depreciation and maintenance expense, personnel costs, terminal related costs when required, insurance, telecommunications, and amortization of acquired intangibles. When services are provided using vehicles owned by the Company, cost of revenue also includes truck depreciation and maintenance expense, and fuel.

Cash and cash equivalents are deposits and highly liquid investments that are readily convertible to known amounts of cash and are subject to insignificant risk of change including due to interest rate, quoted price, or penalty of withdrawal. U.S. Treasury securities with a maturity, when purchased, of 90 days or less are considered to be cash equivalents.

Restricted cash consists of funds that are contractually restricted as to usage or withdrawal, typically due to the Company’s operating lease agreements. Due to these restrictions, the Company has presented restricted cash separately from cash and cash equivalents on the balance sheet within other current assets and other assets on the consolidated balance sheet.

The Company’s short-term and long-term investments in U.S. Treasury securities, commercial paper, and corporate bonds have been classified and accounted for as available-for-sale. The Company measures short-term and long-term investments at fair value on a recurring basis based on quoted market prices, and unrealized gains and losses, net of taxes, are included in other comprehensive loss. Upon sale, realized gains and losses are recognized in other income (expense), net on the statements of operations. No impairment losses have been recognized on short-term and long-term investments in the periods presented.

Fair value is defined as the price that would be received to sell an asset or paid to transfer a liability in an orderly transaction between market participants at the measurement date. In determining fair value, management uses a fair value hierarchy, which prioritizes the inputs used to measure fair value. The three levels of the fair value hierarchy are set forth below:

Level 2: Observable inputs other than Level 1 prices such as quoted prices for similar assets or liabilities in active markets, quoted prices in markets that are not active or inputs other than the quoted prices that are observable either directly or indirectly for the full term of the assets or liabilities.

Our primary financial instruments include cash, cash equivalents, restricted cash, investments, accounts payable, accrued liabilities, and derivative liabilities. For the financial instruments not measured at fair value on a recurring basis, their estimated fair value approximates their carrying value due to the short-term maturities of these instruments.

Property and equipment are recorded at cost and depreciated using the straight-line method over the estimated useful lives, which is twenty years for buildings; the shorter of the lease term and the estimated useful life (up to seven years) for leasehold improvements; and over three to five years for all other asset categories.

The Company determines whether a contract contains a lease at inception. The Company leases real estate and equipment which have been recognized as operating leases, except for those leases with a lease term of 12 months or less which are recognized as short-term leases and expensed on a straight-line basis.

Variable lease payments that do not depend on an index or rate are not included in the initial measurement of operating lease liabilities. Certain lease contracts include non-lease components, such as operations and maintenance. The Company combines and accounts for lease and these non-lease components as a single lease component. Certain real estate leases include one or more options to renew; the exercise of lease renewal options is at the Company’s discretion and is included in the lease term when it is determined that the options are reasonably certain to be exercised. The discount rates utilized to measure operating lease liabilities are generally based on estimates of the Company’s incremental borrowing rate, as the discount rates implicit in lease agreements cannot be readily determined.

Acquired intangible assets primarily consist of one asset class of developed technology from various business combinations. These assets were in-process research and development (“IPR&D”) until the assets were placed into service during the three months ended June 30, 2025. An estimated useful life of 10 years was assigned for the period over which the technology is expected to contribute to the future cash flows of the Company in commercial self-driving applications. These assets are amortized over the estimated useful life in proportion to the economic benefits received via revenue recognized. The acquired intangible assets had an aggregate carrying amount of $617 million as of December 31, 2025. Amortization for the year ended December 31, 2025 was not significant.

The Company evaluates the estimated remaining useful life of its intangible assets and whether events or changes in circumstances warrant a revision to the remaining period of amortization at each period end. Acquired intangible assets are subject to impairment considerations whenever events or circumstances indicate that the carrying amounts may not be recoverable. No impairment losses were recognized on acquired intangible assets during the periods presented.

Long-lived assets, such as property and equipment and operating lease right-of-use assets, are reviewed for impairment whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that the carrying amounts may not be recoverable. The Company performs impairment testing at the level that represents the lowest level for which identifiable cash flows are largely independent of the cash flows of other assets and liabilities. Recoverability is measured by comparing the carrying amounts to the expected future undiscounted cash flows attributable to the assets. If it is determined that an asset may not be recoverable, an impairment is recognized to the extent that the carrying amount exceeds its fair value. No material impairment losses were recognized on long-lived assets during the periods presented.

Research and development costs are expensed as incurred, and consist primarily of personnel costs, hardware and electrical engineering prototyping, cloud computing, data labeling, and third-party development services. To date, the Company has not capitalized software development costs related to the continued development and commercialization of the Aurora Driver at scale due to the remaining planning, designing, coding and testing activities necessary for technology validation and safe autonomous operation.

The Company measures stock-based compensation using the fair value based method on the grant date. Restricted stock units (“RSUs”) are measured based on fair value of the Company’s publicly traded common stock, while stock options are measured using a Black-Scholes option pricing model with assumptions including expected term, risk-free interest rate, and expected volatility. Due to the Company’s limited historical stock option exercise experience as a public company, the expected term of stock options is determined utilizing the simplified method based on vesting and contractual terms. The expected volatility is determined based on our historical equity volatility as well as the historical volatility of comparable public companies over the expected term of the stock option. The risk-free interest rate is based on the U.S. Treasury yield curve in effect at the time of grant.

Stock-based compensation for awards with only service conditions is recognized on a straight-line basis over the requisite service period, which is generally the vesting period, while awards with service and performance conditions is recognized on a graded-vesting basis over the requisite service period. The Company recognizes the effect of forfeitures in the period they occur.

The Company accounts for the public and private placement stock purchase warrants (collectively “the warrants”) as derivative liabilities. The liabilities are measured at fair value on a recurring basis with any changes in fair value reflected in the statement of operations until the warrants are exercised, redeemed, or expire.

On November 3, 2021, the Company consummated a business combination with Legacy Aurora and RTPY Merger Sub Inc. pursuant to an Agreement and Plan of Merger dated July 14, 2021 (the “Merger Agreement” and the transactions contemplated thereby, the “Merger”). The Company accounts for shares held by Reinvent Sponsor Y LLC (the “Sponsor”) not forfeited under the terms of the Merger Agreement and subject to price based vesting terms (the “Earnout Shares”) as derivative liabilities. The liability is measured at fair value on a recurring basis with any changes in fair value reflected in the statement of operations until the vesting conditions are met or the shares expire.

The Company accounts for income taxes using the asset-and-liability method. Deferred tax assets and liabilities are recognized based upon the temporary differences between the financial reporting and tax basis of assets and liabilities using enacted rates in effect for the years in which the differences are expected to reverse. Valuation allowances are established when necessary to reduce the deferred tax assets when it is more likely than not that a portion or all of the deferred tax assets will not be realized.

The Company records uncertain tax positions on the basis of a two-step process in which: (1) the Company determines whether it is more likely than not that the tax positions will be sustained on the basis of technical merits of the position, and (2) for those tax positions that meet the more likely than not recognition threshold, the Company recognizes the tax benefit as the largest amount that is cumulatively more likely than not to be realized upon ultimate settlement with the related tax authority.

Liabilities for loss contingencies arising from claims, assessments, litigation, fines, and penalties and other sources are recorded when it is probable that a liability has been incurred and the amount can be reasonably estimated. Legal costs incurred in connection with loss contingencies are expensed as incurred.

The Company’s operations are principally funded by available liquidity from cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments. Management expects to continue to incur operating losses and that the Company will need to opportunistically raise additional capital to support the continued development and commercialization of the Aurora Driver at scale. Management believes that cash on hand and short-term investments will be sufficient to meet its working capital and capital expenditure requirements for a period of at least twelve months from the date of these financial statements.

Financial instruments that potentially subject the Company to concentration of credit risk consist primarily of cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments. The Company primarily maintains its cash and cash equivalents at U.S. commercial banks, while its short-term investments primarily consist of U.S. Treasury securities. Cash and cash equivalents deposited with domestic commercial banks generally exceed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation insurable limit, though the Company has not experienced any credit losses on its deposits.

In December 2023, the FASB issued Accounting Standards Update 2023-09, Income Taxes (Topic 740): Improvements to Income Tax Disclosures, which requires disaggregated information about a reporting entity's effective tax rate reconciliation as well as information on income taxes paid to enhance the transparency and decision usefulness of income tax disclosures. The updated standard is effective for the Company’s fiscal 2025 annual period. See Note 11. Income Taxes for the Company’s disclosures for this standard.

In November 2024, the FASB issued Accounting Standards Update 2024-03, Disaggregation of Income Statement Expenses, which requires annual and interim disclosure of disaggregated disclosures of certain costs and expenses on the income statement. The standard is effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2026, and interim periods within fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2027, with early adoption permitted. Amendments are applied on a prospective basis with retrospective application permitted. The Company is currently evaluating the impact of this guidance.

In September 2025, the FASB issued Accounting Standards Update 2025-06, Targeted Improvements to the Accounting for Internal-Use Software, which modernizes and simplifies the guidance for capitalizing costs related to internal-use software by removing the stage-based approach and aligning the disclosure requirements with those for other long-lived assets. The standard is effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2027, with early adoption permitted. The amendments may be applied prospectively or using a modified retrospective approach. The Company is currently evaluating the impact of this guidance.