Aurora Innovation reported it has named Nat Beuse to be its first Chief Safety Officer. The company said that Beuse is an internationally recognized safety expert in vehicle technology, policy, and safety standards with over 20 years of experience in the public and private sectors. According to a release, naming a Chief Safety Officer aligns with Aurora's focus on closing its Aurora Driver Safety Case, which will demonstrate when Aurora's autonomous semitrucks are acceptably safe for driverless operations on public roads.

The role reports directly to CEO Chris Urmson and, in this elevated position, Beuse will continue to grow and enforce safety's role in the development, deployment, and commercialization of Aurora's autonomous vehicle products. This includes establishing and managing the organization's internal and external corporate safety strategies, policies, standards, and programs. Much of this work is organized through the execution of Aurora's safety case and approach to safety risk management. Beuse previously served as the company's Vice President of Safety and, prior to joining Aurora, was the Head of Safety at Uber ATG.

He also spent nearly two decades in leadership and executive roles at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, including roles related to consumer information, research, and regulation for transportation technology, passenger vehicles, and commercial vehicles. Today, Beuse is also a board member for Mothers Against Drunk Driving and Lifesavers Inc., and will continue to lead Aurora's safety functions from Pittsburgh. Aurora recently confirmed that the Aurora Driver is Feature Complete, a critical milestone in its path to launching Aurora Horizon, its autonomous trucking subscription service.

By the end of 2023, Aurora added it expects to complete the necessary validation to close the Aurora Driver Safety Case for driverless operations on its Dallas-Houston launch lane.