TuSimple Holdings Inc. has started testing Level 4 autonomous truck runs on Japan’s freight corridor that connects Tokyo, Nagoya and Osaka.
Testing along the Tomei Expressway started in January 2023 and the autonomous trucks have recorded more than 10 million cumulative miles through testing, research and freight delivery through the service in Japan as well as its public road truck runs in Arizona. These trucks have been working without human intervention, TuSimple said.
The company is developing commercial-ready, fully autonomous Level 4 driving for long-haul heavy-duty trucks. The goal is to transform the $4 trillion global truck freight industry to autonomous vehicles using artificial intelligence.
Driver shortage
Japan is facing problems with a driver shortage and an aging population with 45.2% of the drivers in the country aged 50 or older, TuSimple said. Japan plans to launch an autonomous vehicle lane on some sections of the Tomei Expressway by 2024 and will allow commercial operation of SAE Level 4 fully autonomous trucks by 2026.
In the video, TuSimple shows how the lidar views the 3D world around it while cameras are shown along the highways in real time.
Earlier this year, TuSimple unveiled its domain controller unit that was developed using Nvidia’s Drive Orin system-on-chip technology. The controller serves as the brains for the autonomous trucks incorporating sensor inputs, high performance computing, integrated vehicle control units and autonomous software.