Shift Magazine - December 2021 - 15

gigantic amount of edge cases and seen
a lot of different operating environments, "
CEO Alberto Lacaze said.
Robotic
TuSimple will further sideline human
Research's
vehicles were
the first approved by the Department
of Defense to operate with pedestrians
nearby, and its trucks were the first
unmanned vehicles used by the Army in
wartime operations.
The Maryland company's commercial
division tech has been applied to a multitude
of vehicles - tugs, shuttles, heavyduty
transit buses and long-haul trucks, to
name a few. While most companies pick
one application, Lacaze considers the versatility
a strength.
" We think of it more as a 360-degree
operation, " he said. " A truck doesn't live
on the highway only. Sometimes it's first
mile, last mile. Sometimes it's a truck yard.
Sometimes it deals with pedestrians, or
unusual terrain or weather. People create
these lines for particular applications. It
turns out most applications need different
kinds of autonomy, as well. "
In June, Robotic Research partnered
with Verizon, Local Motors and others
to deploy self-driving shuttles at Marine
Corps Air Station Miramar in California.
In August, Robotic Research reached
an agreement with transit operator NFI
Group Inc. to increase the deployment of
its driver-assist systems in buses throughout
North America.
TORC ROBOTICS
Born from a group of Virginia Tech students
intent on continuing their work in
autonomous software and robotics, Torc
Robotics first caught attention when it
helped the " Victor Tango " team at the
DARPA Urban Challenge.
After Torc pursued military and mining
applications of autonomous vehicles for
several years, Daimler acquired a majority
share of the company in 2019. Now in their
third year of collaboration, the companies
are testing Level 4 self-driving trucks in
New Mexico, Virginia and Texas, and say
they're working on route expansions.
So far, Torc CEO Michael Fleming
favors a simplified approach, using
Daimler Trucks' Freightliner Cascadia for
TuSimple
long-haul
trucking on U.S.
interstates.
" Commercializing self-driving trucks is a
very complex endeavor, and we are first
solving the least-complex use case, then
expanding our reach as the technical capabilities
are proven, " he said.
In November, Torc formed a collaboration
with simulation-and-software-tools
provider Applied Intuition centered on AV
development.
TUSIMPLE
TuSimple is close to building out the
nation's first coast-to-coast autonomous
freight network as it pursues development
of self-driving technology.
In a November quarterly earnings call,
the company unveiled efforts to map
new routes between its operational hub
in Dallas and Orlando and Charlotte. With
a route established between Phoenix
and Dallas, TuSimple's geographic reach
covers nearly all
the southern United
States.
Both new routes will help the company
expand its partnership with UPS,
which has already accounted for 160,000
paid miles of freight hauling. While testing
in automated mode, the company's
trucks achieved a 13 percent fuel savings,
TuSimple says, compared with human
drivers.
Waymo
drivers this month. The company expects
to follow competitors such as Gatik and
Plus by removing human safety drivers
from certain operations.
In TuSimple's
case, the company says it will go " driver
out " during frequent trips between
Phoenix and Tucson by the end of
Torc
Robotics
the
year.
The company added 138 employees to
its R&D division during the third quarter,
bringing its head count to approximately
1,000 in R&D and 1,300 overall.
WAYMO
Waymo has begun installing its
fifth-generation virtual driver into its truck
fleet, a significant development, as it
comes with an overhaul of its sensor package
and software.
The company runs its testing from its
metro Phoenix operations hub, but it is
currently building a " primary operations
center " for its trucking business in Dallas.
Waymo is not stating a timeline for launching
commercial operations.
In mid-November, Waymo expanded
its partnership with UPS. With the holiday
season looming and ports and trucking
overwhelmed,
the two companies are
moving beyond local deliveries and into
Class 8 truck freight movement. Waymo
will transport goods between UPS' North
American Air Freight units in Dallas-Fort
Worth and Houston.
The Class 8 trial runs will build upon previous
work the two companies have done
together, as well as Waymo's other work
with partners that include J.B. Hunt.
In October 2020, Waymo entered into a
partnership with Daimler Trucks, which is
building an autonomous-ready version of
its Freightliner Cascadia truck chassis that
comes with redundant systems. n
december 2021 * shift 15
Shift Magazine - December 2021

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