Aurora (Nasdaq: AUR) is delivering the benefits of self-driving technology safely, quickly, and broadly. Founded in 2017 by experts in the self-driving industry, Aurora is revolutionizing transportation – making it safer, increasingly accessible, and more reliable and efficient than ever before. Its flagship product, the Aurora Driver, is a platform that brings together software, hardware, and data services, to autonomously operate passenger vehicles, light commercial vehicles, and heavy-duty trucks. Aurora is partnered with industry leaders across the transportation ecosystem including Toyota, Volvo, PACCAR, Uber, Uber Freight, FedEx, and U.S. Xpress. Aurora tests its vehicles in the Bay Area, Pittsburgh, and Texas and has offices in those areas as well as in Bozeman, MT; Seattle, WA; Louisville, CO; and Detroit, MI.

A recent hardware test of NASA's robotic assistant, 'Astrobees,' takes a new wave of space-bound autonomous helpers one step closer to reality. According to NASA, this month astronaut Anne McClain ran a hardware test of the robot, named'Bumble,' one of three robotic assistants launched to the International Space Station (ISS) on April 15. Scientists hope Bumble will carry out an array of housekeeping tasks like monitoring equipment and keeping inventory of supplies that NASA hopes will free up its astronauts to perform other more critical tasks relating to with their missions and experiments. Astrobees are just one of many robotic applications from NASA who is also studying the use of'soft' robotics that replace traditional hardware with malleable plastics'Astrobee will prove out robotic capabilities that will enable and enhance human exploration,' said Maria Bualat, Astrobee project manager at NASA's Ames Research Center in a statement. 'Performing such experiments in zero gravity will ultimately help develop new hardware and software for future space missions.'