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Autonomous trucking startup TuSimple using NVIDIA DRIVE

Autonomous trucking startup TuSimple has been hauling mail more than 1,000 miles between Phoenix and Dallas as part of a two-week pilot with the US Postal Service. Halfway through the test, the self-driving prototypes from TuSimple—an NVIDIA DRIVE partner and NVIDIA Inception member—have been arriving at the delivery hubs earlier than expected.

In just a week, we’ve been able to operate safe and efficient deliveries autonomously.

—Chuck Price, chief product officer at TuSimple

The pilot comprises five round trips, each consisting of nearly 2,200 miles along the I-10, I-20 and I-30 corridors. The commonly traveled route typically takes human drivers about 48 hours to complete.

This trip length creates a logistical challenge for shipping companies such as the USPS. Regulations limit truckers to 11 hours at a stretch and there’s a growing driver shortage. The American Trucking Association estimates the industry is short 50,000 drivers, a number that is expected to more than triple to 175,000 by 2024.

By incorporating autonomous driving technology into these long-haul trips, shippers can improve efficiency, ease the strain on drivers and deliver more goods faster.

While TuSimple’s trucks can operate on surface streets and highways, for this project it was agreed to start with highway only, with two human operators supervising the system. This type of geofenced autonomous driving is at SAE Level 4.

Achieving this level of autonomy requires high-performance, energy-efficient compute capability, which enables the vehicle to process sensor data and perceive objects in real time.

TuSimple’s trucks use NVIDIA technology to perform onboard processing as well as to train its deep learning algorithms to recognize specific objects such as traffic signs and emergency vehicles.

NVIDIA is the only company able to deliver the technology we need to achieve these milestones.

—Chuck Price

The USPS pilot is just the start for TuSimple’s autonomous trucks delivering goods across state lines.

The startup already has 15 contracts with shipping companies and travels routes around Tucson, Ariz. Sixty percent of economic activity in the US lies in the freight that travels along the I-10 corridor, which connects the southwestern states and makes up a significant portion of the current pilot.

Formed in 2015, TuSimple develops technology for autonomous long-distance freight delivery. In 2017, NVIDIA GPU Ventures joined a group of investors led by Chinese social media company Sina in investing more than $20 million in the Chinese startup.

TuSimple uses NVIDIA GPUs, NVIDIA DRIVE PX 2, Jetson TX2, CUDA, TensorRT and cuDNN to develop its autonomous driving solution. In June 2017, the company successfully completed a 200-mile Level 4 test drive from San Diego to Yuma, Arizona, using NVIDIA GPUs and cameras as the primary sensor.

Comments

HarveyD

Interesting to see what will be the accident rate versus trucks with human drivers, after 100,000+ trips? Automated drive trucks can operate 24/7 with very short refills stops with better efficiency.

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