TuSimple on 4th March 2023 introduced its central compute unit – the TuSimple Domain Controller (TDC). The TDC will serve as an autonomous truck’s central computational unit, incorporating sensor inputs, high performance computing, integrated vehicle control unit (VCU), and autonomous software to enable advanced autonomous driving solutions.
The TDC has been a multi-year project following the January 2022 announced use of NVIDIA technology to develop a proprietary domain controller. The company and select customers are currently testing and validating B-sample units, C-sample units are expected to ship in Q2 2023, followed by production units in Q4 2023.
“We’re proud to launch our TuSimple Domain Controller as it meets a market need for a single-box, central compute platform ideal for advanced commercial mobility,” said Cheng Lu, TuSimple president & CEO. “Coupled with our industry-leading software capabilities, the TDC provides OEMs, partners and customers with a suite of fully integrated, low-cost, high-performance autonomy solutions.”
The proprietary TDC is part of the larger industry trend of moving from edge computing at the sensor level to a centralized platform that has the computational power to process more data, fuse multiple sensor modalities, and allow for complex driving operations. TuSimple’s TDC aims to work seamlessly with different sensor configurations and TuSimple application software to permit a range of autonomous offerings, including:
· ADAS: Next-generation L2+ and conditional L3 ADAS solutions for commercial vehicles to improve road safety and fuel utilization
· Perception Fusion Module: Highly-customizable, low-cost hardware and software module fusing together different sensor modalities to offer OEM customers a holistic perception stack option
· L4 Autonomy: Primary or redundant computing unit to power full L4 autonomous systems
The benefits of a proprietary designed system include better integration, lower power consumption, faster development cycles, and lower costs for end-users. The TDC is powered by the NVIDIA DRIVE Orin™ SoC (system-on-a-chip) and supports next generation ADAS projects for commercial vehicles in the Chinese market with the potential to expand to US and European markets.
“We intend to utilize the TDC for computational redundancy in powering our L4 autonomous driving solution,” said Lei Wang, TuSimple SVP of technology. “We expect the next generation of the TDC will replace the primary computational system to enable OEM production-ready, L4 autonomous vehicles.”
