International and PlusAI are leveraging Nvidia’s DRIVE AGX Hyperion platform, moving closer to commercializing factory-built Level 4 autonomous trucks.
The collaboration brings together International’s nearly 200-year-long manufacturing expertise, PlusAI’s SuperDrive autonomous driving technology, and Nvidia’s high-performance AI computing. The partnership aims to help accelerate the manufacturing of autonomous vehicles designed for safe and efficient long-haul trucking.
“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, CEO and co-founder of PlusAI, in a news release. “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.”
In addition to International’s manufacturing experience, the OEM is also bringing its North American dealer network to the table, enabling the service and maintenance of the trucks. Nvidia, meanwhile, supplies its DRIVE AGX Thor computing platform powered by Nvidia Blackwell architecture to handle the complex AI workloads required for safe autonomous driving.
“Building on our fleet trials in Texas, the collaboration with NVIDIA and PlusAI is an important step on our path to production,” said Tobias Glitterstam, senior vice-president and chief strategy and transformation officer at International. “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.”
Rishi Dhall, vice-president of automotive at Nvidia, added, “By leveraging DRIVE AGX Thor, PlusAI’s advanced autonomous driving software, and International’s proven vehicle platform, [we] can operate seamlessly together to enable robust perception, prediction, and planning for safe, efficient, and scalable commercial freight operations.”
The trucks will be engineered from the factory with lidar, radar, and cameras providing 360-degree environmental awareness, integrated with the SuperDrive autonomous system and NVIDIA’s system-on-a-chip for high-speed AI inference.
