Open The Pod Bay Doors

Meet Aurora, a spunky self-driving-car startup that emerged from secrecy with a potent pedigree and powerful partnerships.

- Kirsten Korosec

TECH SPECIALISTS WHO WANT to save the world? Certainly. Technicians who seek to push the envelope? Absolutely. Self-proclaimed superstars without a clear job to interview for? Sure, we’ll take ’em.

But no jerks.

Sterling Anderson, Drew Bagnell, and Chris Urmson—cofounders of Aurora Innovation, a buzzy technology startup that has until recently operated in secret from offices in Pittsburgh, San Francisco, and Palo Alto—will do just about anything to bring self-driving cars to the world quickly and safely. But the men are just as concerned with who will bring autonomous technology to the driving masses as much as accomplishing the mission. “It’s important that we find people who are excellent at what they do,” Urmson says, “but it’s also important to us that they’re actually good human beings.”