TuSimple Integrates NVIDIA Chip for Autonomous Trucking

TuSimple Advances Autonomous Trucking with Nvidia Drive Orin

TuSimple, a leading company in autonomous trucking technology, is poised to expand its self-driving capabilities through integration with Nvidia’s latest Drive Orin system-on-a-chip (SoC). This announcement was made during the recent CES event.

Specifically engineered for autonomous systems, the Drive Orin SoC will deliver the necessary robust, compact, energy-efficient, and automotive-grade computing power to expedite TuSimple’s efforts to bring its self-driving trucks to market.

Long-Standing Collaboration

The partnership between Nvidia and TuSimple dates back several years, with Nvidia having led TuSimple’s Series B funding round in 2017.

Drive Orin is a key component of Nvidia’s Hyperion 8, a production-ready platform launched in November. This platform encompasses the sensors, computing resources, and software essential for autonomous vehicle (AV) development.

While TuSimple will independently select its sensors and utilize internally developed software, it will leverage the Drive Orin SoC to co-develop its autonomous domain control (ADC) system – the central computational unit of the truck.

The Role of the Autonomous Domain Control (ADC)

According to Cheng Lu, CEO and president of TuSimple, the ADC integrates the company’s virtual driver software.

It processes data from various sensors and translates it into commands that control the truck’s different systems.

Drive Orin’s substantial computational power and compact form factor will significantly accelerate TuSimple’s ability to deploy autonomous trucks across its freight network.

Scaling Production Requires an Auto-Grade ADC

“Scaled production of AV trucks necessitates an auto-grade ADC, a capability currently lacking for many OEMs and autonomous technology developers,” Lu explained to TechCrunch.

Current prototype systems are expensive and less reliable, suitable only for limited vehicle batches, but inadequate for large-scale OEM manufacturing.

Recent Milestones and Future Plans

TuSimple recently completed a successful fully autonomous, driverless truck pilot on the I-10 in Arizona.

This achievement marks a significant step towards scaling its technology into purpose-built trucks within the next three years.

The company intends to manufacture semi-trucks specifically designed for autonomous operation by 2024, in collaboration with Navistar and the Traton Group (Volkswagen AG’s heavy truck division).

However, Lu clarified that the Nvidia collaboration operates independently of these OEM production programs and refrained from commenting on the ADC that will be used in those trucks.

Drive Orin’s Performance and Nvidia’s Expertise

The Drive Orin SoC boasts a processing performance of 254 trillion operations per second, encompassing perception, planning, and actuation functions, as stated by TuSimple.

Beyond providing this crucial hardware component, Nvidia contributes its expertise in chip design and placement within a computational unit to maximize efficiency.

TuSimple’s software is integrated into the ADC, and the company defines specific requirements regarding computational needs, sensor integration, and power consumption.