International, PlusAI, and NVIDIA are teaming to produce factory-built autonomous trucks. Source: PlusAI
Artificial intelligence promises not only to make vehicles more autonomous, but also to bring them to roads faster. International Motors LLC and PlusAI Inc. today said they will combine International’s manufacturing experience with PlusAI’s SuperDrive technology. The partners asserted that this will “enable production-ready autonomous trucks for large-scale freight operations, powered by NVIDIA’s AI computing architecture.”
“We are excited about the advancements we’re making in our autonomy program with our global autonomy partner PlusAI,” stated Tobias Glitterstam, senior vice president and chief strategy and transformation officer at International.
“Building on our fleet trials in Texas, the collaboration with NVIDIA and PlusAI is an important step on our path to production,” he added. “By combining automotive-grade computing and AI-native autonomous driving software with our deep customer relationships and insights, we’re supporting the future deployment of autonomous solutions that will deliver real value and reliability to the freight industry.”
International, PlusAI, and NVIDIA to combine strengths
Lisle, Ill.-based International Motors builds International-brand trucks and engines and IC Bus school and commercial buses. The company also develops Fleetrite aftermarket parts. In 2021, it joined Scania AB, MAN Truck & Bus, and Volkswagen Truck & Bus in the TRATON GROUP, a global truck and transport services business.
The trio said their collaboration combines each of their areas of expertise:
- International brings nearly 200 years of manufacturing expertise and understanding of fleet operations, along with an extensive dealer network to manage, service, and maintain autonomous systems.
- PlusAI contributes its SuperDrive autonomous driving software, refined over 6 million miles of real-world driving and built on “end-to-end” AI models to enable dynamic adaptation to diverse routes, geographies, and driving conditions.
- NVIDIA provides a range of AI infrastructure including the DRIVE AGX Thor centralized compute platform powered by the NVIDIA Blackwell architecture, which it said is purpose-built for the complex AI workloads required for safe autonomous driving.
“By collaborating with International and NVIDIA, we’re enabling scalable, factory-built autonomy designed to meet the real-world performance and safety expectations of fleets,” said David Liu, co-founder and CEO of PlusAI. “We have to build for a future with thousands of self-driving trucks on the road and that requires not just cutting-edge AI-native autonomous driving technology, but relentless rigor in safety, reliability, and excellence in large-scale manufacturing,”
Founded in 2016, PlusAI is developing AI-based virtual driver software for factory-built autonomous trucks. The company, which has operations in the U.S. and Europe, works with partners including TRATON GROUP’s Scania, MAN, and International brands, Hyundai Motor Co., Iveco Group, Bosch, and DSV to accelerate the deployment of self-driving trucks.
PlusAI is running customer fleet trials with International in freight corridors in Texas.
Fast Company this month named PlusAI as one of the “World’s Most Innovative Companies.” PlusAI announced in June that it plans to go public via a merger with Churchill Capital Corp IX.
DRIVE AGX Thor helps put AI behind the wheel
“NVIDIA DRIVE AGX Thor delivers the compute performance, functional safety, and scalability required for production-ready autonomous trucks,” said Rishi Dhall, vice president of automotive at NVIDIA Corp. “By leveraging DRIVE AGX Thor, PlusAI’s advanced autonomous driving software and International’s proven vehicle platform can operate seamlessly together to enable robust perception, prediction, and planning for safe, efficient, and scalable commercial freight operations.”
International autonomous trucks will be engineered from the factory floor up with lidar, radar, and cameras for 360-degree awareness of the vehicle’s surroundings and integrated with the SuperDrive autonomous driving system and NVIDIA DRIVE AGX Thor system-on-a-chip (SoC).
The trio said the combination of International’s proven vehicle architecture, PlusAI’s scalable autonomy software, and NVIDIA’s high-performance compute platform will provide the redundancy, sensor fusion, and high-speed AI inference needed for SAE Level 4 operation in complex long-haul trucking environments.
PlusAI is contributing its virtual driver architecture to the partnership. Source: PlusAI
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