TuSimple, an autonomous truck manufacturing startup has signed a partnership deal with an automotive supplier, ZF in order to develop and produce self-driving vehicle technology, like sensors, on a commercial level.
According to the deal, both the companies will co-develop sensors including a central computer, cameras, radar and lidar, which are needed in autonomous vehicle technology, and will cover North America, Europe and China. It has also been decide that ZF will provide its engineering support to validate and integrate TuSimple-designed autonomous system into the vehicle.
Chuck Price, the Chief Product Officer at TuSimple, sees this partnership as an important milestone for the startup as it has exerted its efforts to bring autonomous-ready trucks to market. The startup is planning to combine its self-driving software with ZF’s ability in order to produce automotive grade products.
Chuck states, “A partnership with world-class supplier ZF is an important milestone for our company as we prepare to bring autonomous-ready trucks to market.” He adds, “Working side-by-side with ZF to refine and integrate our production-ready technology has allowed us to optimize our hardware stack and focus on scaling these technologies to make it possible for autonomous ready trucks to be mass produced.”
Torsten Gollewski, the Executive Vice President of Autonomous Mobility Systems at ZF explains, “Our integrated solutions enable the next generation of mobility, and we are thrilled to partner with TuSimple, a leader in autonomous trucking. A key success factor for virtual driver software is to ensure the system is based on an automotive grade level, including component development and production. The combination of ZF automotive system competencies and TuSimple’s virtual driver software will create the first commercial-ready automotive grade autonomous truck technology platform.”
