TuSimple Releases Domain Controller Based on NVIDIA’s Chip

On March 28, 2023, TuSimple, a global autonomous driving technology company, officially released its domain controller product (TDC – TuSimple Domain Controller) based on the NVIDIA DRIVE Orin SoC chip design and development. It is expected to begin mass production and delivery by the end of 2023.

This product is an auto-grade autonomous driving computing platform independently developed by TuSimple. It integrates sensor input, high-performance computing, vehicle control unit (VCU), and autonomous driving application software to meet the calculation requirements of L2+ to L4 level automatic driving.

Since announcing the project based on NVIDIA DRIVE Orin SoC chips in January 2022, TuSimple has invested more than two years in continuous research and development. After multiple rounds of software and hardware system iterations and actual road testing, the B-sample products have been delivered to customers for testing and verification. The C-sample is expected to start shipping in the second quarter of 2023. The mass-produced version will cooperate with internationally renowned contract manufacturers and is expected to be delivered to the Chinese market at the end of ’23 with hopes of gradually entering European and American markets.

The trend in the automotive industry is evolving from edge computing at sensor-level towards centralized platforms. Through seamless cooperation with different configurations of sensors and TuSimple’s autonomous driving application software,TDC can achieve a series of advanced solutions for autonomous driving including:

ADAS: Commercial vehicle L2+ and conditionally L3 ADAS solutions, improving road safety and fuel efficiency.

Perception fusion module: Software and hardware modules integrate multiple sensors to provide OEM customers with highly customizable, low-cost full-stack perception solutions.

L4 level autonomous driving: Control + redundant computing unit provides computing power for L4 level autonomous driving systems.

Different from most development models on the market based on NVIDIA modules, TDC is customized based on the NVIDIA Orin system-level SoC chip, which can provide more fine-grained scenario technology customization capabilities. At the same time, compared with module development mode, the cost is reduced by about 25%.

For example, TDC will support two cooling solutions: air-cooling and water-cooling. It also provides two power supply options of 12V and 24V to allow customers to choose more flexibly. It is worth mentioning that TDC’s 24V power supply solution can meet the power supply requirements of domestic heavy trucks and is a unique power design scheme of TuSimple.

In terms of underlying software, TDC products support AUTOSAR Classic Platform adaptation and AUTOSAR Adaptive Platform integration. They also provide SOTA and FOTA solutions and come with commonly used CMOS sensor modules on the market as well as laser radar driver programs.

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The design and development of TDC products adopt commercial vehicle design standards, which have higher stability and safety compared to passenger cars. TDC uses the ASIL-D level QNX operating system and integrates the ASIL-D level Infineon TC397 chip. The overall functional safety level of the product reaches ASIL-D level. In an environment certified by quality and safety systems such as ISO 9001, IATF 16949, and ISO 26262, the mass-produced version will fully meet auto-grade requirements and ensure that the entire system operates safely under various working conditions.

“We are looking forward to the official release of TuSimple’s Domain Controller (TDC), believing that this product can provide more choices for commercial vehicle customers,” said Cheng Lu, President & CEO of TuSimple. “TDC integrates TuSimple’s industry-leading software functions and provides our partners and customers with a complete integrated, low-cost, high-performance autonomous driving solution.”