CES 2022: TuSimple is using Nvidia technology to build intelligent vehicles

Nvidia on Tuesday said the autonomous trucking company TuSimple is using the Nvidia Drive Orin system on a chip (SoC) to advance its Level 4 autonomous trucking applications. TuSimple is one of several partners now using Nvidia technology to build intelligent vehicles, Nvidia said at CES. 

Just last month in Arizona, TuSimple completed the first fully autonomous semi-truck run on open public roads without a human in the vehicle and without human intervention. Achieving this milestone is a critical first step in scaling autonomous trucking operations on TuSimple’s Autonomous Freight Network (AFN). 

Now, the company says it is advancing the development of its AFN with Orin SoCs. It’s using the SoC to develop a scalable autonomous domain controller (ADC) specifically engineered for its Level 4 autonomous trucking applications. The ADC is essentially the central compute unite of an autonomous semi-truck. It processes hundreds of TOPS, including mission-critical perception, planning, and actuation functions. 

Meanwhile, Nvidia also named a number of automotive partners manufacturing production-ready designs with the Drive Hyperion 8 platform, which is a reference architecture and sensor set for self-driving systems. Nvidia’s Drive scaling partners include Desay, Flex, Quanta, Valeo, and ZF. 

The Drive Hyperion 8 platform includes 12 state-of-the-art surround cameras, 12 ultrasonics, nine radar, three interior sensing cameras, and one front-facing lidar. Nvidia’s new scaling partners will help make it possible for the platform to start production as early as this year.

The company also highlighted a number of new energy vehicle (NEV) makers adopting the Hyperion platform, including Polestar, IM Motors, Li Auto, NIO, R Auto, and Xpeng.