TuSimple, a startup self-driving truck company, has successfully completed a two-week pilot program of five round trips hauling United States Postal Service (USPS) letters and packages more than 1,000 miles between the Postal Service’s Phoenix, Arizona and Dallas, Texas distribution centers. All deliveries were made ahead of schedule and without any traffic incidents, according to TuSimple.
The route from Phoenix to Dallas typically takes a human driver about 48 hours to complete, including stops for rest. Autonomous trucking could cut down on that time considerably. TuSimple ran its self-driving trucks for 22 hours each, which included overnight driving along the Interstate 10, 20, and 30 corridors to make the trip through Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas. Long-haul routes with short turnaround times, such as this journey, are normally accomplished with driving teams of two.
The autonomous trucks involved had a safety engineer and driver on board throughout the test to monitor vehicle performance and ensure public safety. TuSimple co-founder and Chief Technology Officer Dr. Xiaodi Hou wants to start making runs without a driver in 2020, which is the next step in commercializing an autonomous system for the $700 billion trucking market.
Tusimple的自动驾驶卡车在凤凰城和达拉斯之间完成了五次往返旅行。
Tusimple在其自动舰队中有15辆Peterbilt和Navistar卡车，全部由康明斯发动机提供动力。该公司计划将其美国舰队增加到50辆卡车。这些卡车的成本估计为每辆200,000美元以北，其中包括车辆本身的150,000美元，其余的9台相机，两个用于3D成像的LIDAR传感器，前向雷达和来自NVIDIA的机载计算机。
Camera System
TuSimple has developed a proprietary automotive-grade camera and vision system scheduled to go into volume production during this calendar quarter, and deploy on its autonomous customer fleet by Q3 of 2019. It features索尼半导体汽车CMOS图像传感器可创建一组用于短，中和长时间使用的相机系统。每个系统都采用Tusimple的软件来实时检测和处理图像，从1000米之遥。
The camera system addresses complex imaging challenges such as instant light changes when entering and exiting tunnels, as well as the headlight glare of oncoming vehicles and the LED flicker created by digital signage and traffic lights. On top of that, the system allows for night and low-light autonomous operation plus operation during sunrise and sunset.
"Like human drivers, autonomous trucks' perception systems are challenged by a wide variety of light conditions which are experienced every day while driving. We weren't able to find a camera system on the market that fit our needs, so we created one," says Dr. Hou, "The combined expertise of Sony Semiconductor Solutions Corporation and TuSimple has created a perception system that sees better than the human eye—night and day, rain or shine—in the most challenging driving conditions."
该新相机系统旨在为ISO 26262功能安全标准中概述的汽车安全完整性水平（ASIL）-C汽车。系统集成商Sunny Opticalwill test the product and module, as well as develop and manufacture the automotive-grade product.
添加晚上time operation will enable fleets to increase truck utilization from an average of 50%, or 12 hours per day, to an average of over 80%, according to TuSimple.
汽车业务部副Sony副SGM，索尼半导体解决方案公司Corporation Corporation Corporation Corporation Corporation Corporation Corporation Corporation Corporation Corporation Corporation Corporation Corporation Corporation Corporation Corporation Corporation，将可靠的夜间和低光操作带入市场上当前的感知系统是自动驾驶可行性的重要一步。”。
USPS目前正在寻求更换其老龄化车队，但预备汽车更换的项目将在10年内每年耗资超过8亿美元。总体而言，根据2018年政府责任报告，该服务面临着在未来十年内必须增加支出70％以支付成本的前景。
因此，邮政服务正在探索利用自动交付的车辆技术通过更长的时间运行来提高其车队利用率的可行性。自动驾驶卡车可以通过消除人类驾驶员的方式来节省数百万美元，并使其余的任务无关紧要，以防止他们全天候开车（法规将卡车司机限制为11小时）。
TuSimple is taking advantage of the relatively simpler task of navigating interstate highways rather than congested city streets. “It is exciting to think that before many people will ride in a robo-taxi, their mail and packages may be carried in a self-driving truck,” says Dr. Hou. “Performing for the USPS in this particular commercial corridor gives us specific use cases to help us validate our system and expedite the technological development and commercialization progress.”
