Shares of self-driving vehicle company Aurora Innovation Inc. (NASDAQ: AUR) plummeted by as much as 28% on Thursday, following the company's disappointing third-quarter financial results and the announcement of a delay in the commercial launch of its driverless trucks.

The steep stock sell-off was fueled by Aurora's wider-than-expected quarterly loss of $0.13 per share, missing analysts' consensus estimate of a $0.11 loss per share. The company's disappointing performance highlights its ongoing struggles to control costs and achieve profitability amid fierce competition in the autonomous driving space.

Adding to investor concerns, Aurora announced a four-month delay in the commercial launch of its self-driving truck, pushing it back to April 2025 instead of the originally planned end of 2024. The delay was attributed to the need for additional safety measures before the company feels comfortable launching the vehicle, according to CEO Chris Urmson. The combination of the wider-than-expected loss and the launch delay has raised doubts among investors about Aurora's path to profitability and its ability to successfully commercialize its self-driving technology. With the pre-market plunge, Aurora's shares were trading around $2.20, well below their 52-week high of $7.90 reached in November 2023.