Police1’s Spotlight articles introduce the products and services of a valued sponsor in their own words. This article shines a spotlight on Autura, a company that for decades has kept communities moving with software solutions that simplify and streamline complex operations across the towing and recovery lifecycle. Zach Edmunds, vice president of marketing, provides background on the company.
Where did your company name originate from?
The name “Autura” is a fusion of two concepts meant to reflect both the industry we serve and the sense of movement, energy and forward momentum we aim to facilitate alongside the professionals who keep communities moving.
Auto: a word that grounds us as a technology provider within the automotive industry. It signifies the core of our business: Our SaaS solutions are built to help move autos off dangerous roadsides through proper intake, documentation and processing workflows, and both on and off impound lots through efficient and profitable unclaimed vehicle auction and resale.
Tura: a variation of a Latin term indicating energy and motion.
The name reflects our belief that the work of keeping vehicles moving has a ripple effect that goes far beyond the roadway: When agencies are empowered to run their towing programs efficiently, first responders are safer, roads clear faster and communities thrive.
What was the inspiration behind starting your company?
Autura leaders, backed by our portfolio company NEXA Equity, recognized an opportunity to unify the towing lifecycle and better connect the towing programs and operations of both state and local public safety agencies and towing and recovery service providers.
Our team’s years of industry experience, engagement with the towing community and powerful mergers with other towing and recovery industry leaders such as TRAXERO in 2024 led us to an urgent conclusion: The systems that public safety agencies and towing operators relied on to manage towing programs were fragmented, outdated and creating dangerous and business-prohibitive problems — slow tow response times that leave law enforcement officers and tow operators on dangerous roadsides, delayed communication between dispatchers and officers, data gaps and manual processes that lead to inefficiencies and resource demands on teams already stretched thin.
We knew we could build purpose-built technology that could connect every stakeholder in the vehicle recovery lifecycle — law enforcement, dispatchers, tow operators, impound lot managers — to solve challenges across the towing lifecycle, from dispatch to vehicle disposition.
What is your signature product and how does it work?
For the government and public safety community, our signature product is Aries — Autura’s cloud-based, mobile-accessible towing management software built specifically for law enforcement agencies and municipalities.
Aries gives agencies complete control over their towing programs from dispatch to vehicle disposition. Officers can initiate digital tow requests from the field; dispatchers can manage rotation lists and route calls to the right tow operators in real time; and agency leaders get full visibility into program performance through built-in reporting and analytics.
Our software integrates seamlessly with CAD systems and other agency technology so it fits the way teams already work rather than forcing a rip-and-replace.
Beyond dispatch and rotation, Aries also handles impound management — consolidating storage lookups, automating regulated fees and simplifying lien and notification workflows into a single compliant system. Agencies also gain full visibility into private tow intake, with tow providers logging directly into the centralized system so agencies always know where vehicles are, who moved them and why.
The result: faster response times, less exposure for officers and operators on roadsides and a towing program that’s transparent, defensible and measurable.
Why do you believe your products are essential to the Police1 audience?
Every minute a disabled vehicle sits on a roadway is a safety risk — for the officer on scene, the tow operator and the passing motorist. Manual processes, siloed systems and outdated workflows create dangerous delays, waste precious resources and undermine public trust in how agencies manage their towing programs.
Autura addresses this directly. Our SaaS solutions give law enforcement agencies the technology to reduce tow response times, improve officer safety at roadside and bring transparency and accountability to a function that has historically operated with very little integration and visibility. For agency leaders under pressure to demonstrate operational efficiency and community trust, having a modern, data-driven towing management platform isn’t a nice-to-have — it’s essential infrastructure.
We also serve as the connective tissue between agencies and the broader towing ecosystem. When government software integrates directly with our unclaimed vehicle marketplace and the towing management software that towing and recovery operators rely on, the entire vehicle lifecycle becomes more efficient — from the moment an incident occurs to the moment an unclaimed
vehicle is resold or repurposed. Autura is the only software provider that unites all those stakeholders in one integrated system.
What has been the biggest challenge your company has faced?
Like many other govtech companies, challenges we face tend to surface when we help agencies transition from legacy systems and entrenched manual workflows to more modern, cloud-based solutions. Change management in public safety is hard — and rightfully so. Agencies are risk-averse because the stakes are high and the margin for error is low.
The flexibility, customizations and dedicated solution architecting we’ve built into our SaaS products allow us to meet this challenge head-on. We don’t sell software and leave customers to determine how best to deploy, implement, scale and adopt it. We’ve seen that the fastest, most measurable improvements for customers occur when we invest in understanding their specific workflows, pain points and community context. That’s shaped how we think about onboarding, training and ongoing support.
Additionally, we’ve worked to overcome the challenge of bringing many trusted and loved brands and solutions built for towing, recovery and public safety agencies under a single brand name as part of an integrated solution suite.
What makes your company unique?
Three things set Autura apart.
- We are purpose-built for this vertical. Unlike general-purpose fleet or dispatch software that agencies try to adapt for towing management, every feature in Aries was designed specifically for the realities of government towing programs — rotation compliance, impound management, private tow intake, CAD integration — all of it.
- We are the only technology provider that connects the entire vehicle recovery ecosystem. Our government software, towing management software, and unclaimed vehicle marketplace platform are tightly integrated — meaning law enforcement agencies, tow operators, and impound lot managers are all working in connected systems rather than siloed ones.
- We serve both sides of the transaction. Our reach doesn’t stop at the agency; it extends to the towing and recovery businesses that agencies rely on, which means we can improve outcomes across the full chain — from roadside response to unclaimed vehicle disposition.
What do your customers like best about you and your products?
Consistently, customers share that Aries gives them safety, communication, visibility and control they didn’t have before. From agencies like Nevada Highway Patrol, Utah Highway Patrol, Asheville (North Carolina) and San Diego PDs and Kansas City Impound we hear appreciation themes around:
- Reducing tow response times, risk of secondary crashes, struck-bys and fatalities.
- Ensuring accountability between tow companies and police departments.
- Empowering teams to make data-backed decisions to see department performance improvements.
- Streamlining staff and resource allocation and gaining time back for high-priority responsibilities.
- Supporting transparency and accountability with tow providers and citizens alike — no extra staff needed.
- Strengthened coordination and communication with dispatch and emergency telecommunication personnel.
We share more detailed and specific agency-realized results in case studies on our website Resource Center. We also hear appreciation for our customer support and implementation teams. For many agencies, switching from a legacy system is a big lift, and we take that seriously.
What is the most rewarding part of serving the first responder/local government community?
When something goes wrong on a roadway, there’s a whole ecosystem of professionals who spring into action: the dispatcher routing the call, the officer managing the scene, the tow operator working in traffic to clear the vehicle. These heroes work under real pressure in difficult conditions, and they deserve tools that reduce friction and help them do their jobs safely.
The most rewarding moments for our team are when an agency shares that response times have dropped, or that officers are spending less time on roadsides because dispatch is faster and smoother.
Do you support any charitable organizations within public safety/community? Tell us more.
Autura is proud to support organizations that align with our mission of safer roads and stronger communities. We’ve contributed to Vision Zero, the global initiative working to eliminate traffic fatalities and serious injuries — a cause that sits at the heart of what our technology helps enable every day.
We’re also active advocates for Slow Down Move Over awareness, a cause that hits especially close to home for the towing and recovery community we serve. On average, a first responder is struck and killed on America’s roadways every 4.65 days — a statistic that should alarm every driver on the road. We recently hosted a podcast episode with the founder of Flagman Inc., a 501(c)(3) nonprofit built on the mission of reducing struck-by-vehicle fatalities and named in honor of tow truck operator Corey Iodice, who was killed in 2020 while working roadside. We believe platforms like ours have a responsibility to amplify this message.
We’re also deeply embedded in the towing and recovery community, maintaining active memberships and partnerships with towing associations nationwide. These organizations advocate for the operators on the front lines of every roadway incident and supporting them is inseparable from supporting public safety.
As we grow, expanding our charitable footprint — particularly within law enforcement and first responder communities — remains a priority.
Is there any fun fact or trivia that you’d like to share with our users about you or your company?
One thing special about Autura is that many of our team members come from roles working with and for the agencies and businesses we now serve with our software. We have former towing business owners and operators, impound lot managers, law enforcement officers and telecommunicators who all bring a perspective and knowledge of what our current and potential customers experience in their daily lives.
On a more personal note, we are a team that is passionate about health and wellness. Our CEO, Rudy Nieto, is a multi-marathon finisher and our CTO, Zach Allia, just crossed the finish line at his first Boston Marathon.
What’s next for your company? Any upcoming new projects or initiatives?
Autura is experiencing an exciting season of meaningful growth. We’re continuing to expand the reach of our integrated SaaS solutions — bringing more agencies, towing operators, and vehicle disposition participants into one connected ecosystem.
Specifically, recent partnerships with companies like YASSI and Amazon AWS and deeper CAD integrations are strengthening our ability to seamlessly fit into existing agency workflows. We continuously innovate all our solutions and are prepping for significant enhancements to our online auction marketplace solution. This year we’re set to achieve SOC II compliance, and there’s more to come. For the agencies and operators we serve, 2026 is shaping up to be one of our most impactful years yet.
