TuSimple Completes World’s First Unmanned Semi-Truck Public Road Test
Autonomous driving technology company TuSimple on Wednesday announced that it has successfully completed the world’s first fully autonomous semi-truck run on open public roads without a human in the vehicle and without human intervention.
The unmanned test started its journey from a large railyard in Tucson, Arizona, and traveled more than 80 miles on surface streets and highways at night, safely arriving at a high-volume distribution center in the Phoenix metro area. The whole process lasted 1 hour and 20 minutes, and TuSimple’s driverless trucks showed powerful handling ability in the face of complex road conditions such as cities and expressways, including traffic lights, emergency lane vehicles and lane changes.
This unmanned test is part of an ongoing test program that will continue into 2022. The test is completely operated by the unmanned system independently developed by TuSimple.
In order to ensure the safety of unmanned testing, TuSimple has reached close collaboration with the Arizona Department of Transportation and law enforcement.
“By achieving this momentous technical milestone, we demonstrated the advanced capabilities of TuSimple’s autonomous driving system and the commercial maturity of our testing process, prioritizing safety and collaboration every step of the way,” Cheng Lu, President and CEO of TuSimple, said. “This year, we were laser-focused on putting our technology through a rigorous test on open public roads under real-world conditions, and to see all our hard work and dedication come together is extremely rewarding.”
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According to public information, TuSimple was founded in 2015 and was listed on the NASDAQ on April 15, 2021. At present, it has 70 automated driving trucks in the world and has completed 2 million miles of road tests.
The company is headquartered in San Diego, USA, and its China headquarters are located in Shanghai. It has R&D and testing offices in Beijing, Shanghai and Tucson, Arizona, USA.
