The self-driving big rig startup claims its Aurora Driver 2 suite cuts hardware costs in half. - Self-driving startup Aurora unveiled its second-generation hardware for autonomous trucks. - Aurora Driver 2 is more powerful, more compact, and cheaper than its predecessor. - The startup claims the sensor suite has been designed to last a million miles. Aurora, the Pittsburgh-based startup working on transforming regular big rigs into autonomous trucks, has unveiled its second-generation hardware setup. The company boasts that Aurora Driver 2 can deliver one million miles of driverless freight transport thanks to the more robust sensors and tighter integrations, all while cutting hardware costs in half. The biggest improvement compared to the first-generation product is the more advanced forward-facing Lidar sensor, which can now detect objects half a mile away on the highway in direct sunlight or during the night. The company claims it has ruggedized every aspect of its second-generation hardware kit to keep it in tip-top shape under a full range of weather conditions, including vibration, abrasive dust, rain, and extreme temperatures. There's an updated built-in cleaning system, which keeps the sensors clean by using small jets of water and air, allowing the truck's electronic brain to see better during bad weather. Everything is connected to a brand-new computer powered by Nvidia chips, which are powerful enough to process millions of data points, enabling the hardware to make decisions in milliseconds. The computer is fully redundant and is housed in a chassis that's 40% smaller than the previous model, which reduces costs and makes integration easier. The biggest promise of self-driving trucks is that they can drive nonstop to their destination, lowering costs associated with team driver configurations and cutting downtime. According to Aurora, its second-generation hardware can enable fleet owners to double the revenue per truck.