Locomation, a provider of autonomous trucking technology, says it will use the Nvidia Drive AGX Orin autonomous vehicle computing platform for the commercialization of self-driving trucks starting in 2022.
Locomation’s first commercial product in a series of planned product rollouts is Autonomous Relay Convoy (ARCTM).
ARCTM allows one driver to pilot a lead truck equipped with technology augmentation while a fully autonomous follower truck operates in tandem.
It is the first autonomous driving approach headed for direct commercialization through a recent agreement with Wilson Logistics. Under the terms of the deal, Wilson Logistics will begin to take delivery of 1,120 Locomation-equipped truck cabs starting in 2022.
“We’re moving rapidly toward autonomous trucking commercialization, and Nvidia Drive presents an intriguing solution for providing a robust, safety-forward platform for our team to work with,” said Dr Çetin Meriçli, CEO and co-founder of Locomation.
“This has the potential to enhance our process significantly and we look forward to working closely with the NVIDIA team.”
Locomotion’s trucks will utilize Nvidia Drive AGX Orin, a highly advanced software-defined platform for autonomous vehicles.
The system features the new Orin system-on-a-chip (SoC), which delivers more than 200 trillion operations per second – nearly 7x the performance of Nvidia’s previous generation Xavier SoC.
Rishi Dhall, vice president of autonomous vehicles, Nvidia, says: “As demand for goods continues to rise, so has the need to transport these goods as quickly and efficiently as possible.
“Locomation’s unique, commercialization-focused development efforts in autonomous trucking, backed by the high performance of the Nvidia Orin AV processor, will help improve safety and quality of life for truckers and improve overall cost efficiency.”
This announcement is one in a series planned for Locomation this fall. The company recently announced its successful pilot program with Wilson Logistics as well as the world’s first large- scale purchase order and anticipates further strategic partnership and milestone communications in 2020.
