Self-Driving Freight Trucks to Be Built In-Factory by International and PlusAI
- New trucks will be built with Level 4 autonomy integrated during manufacturing, not added post-production.
- PlusAI’s SuperDrive software and NVIDIA’s DRIVE AGX Thor platform will power the system for long-haul freight use.
International Motors and PlusAI are developing autonomous trucks that will come off the line ready for the road. Built for freight carriers, the vehicles are being designed for large-scale production with self-driving capabilities installed during assembly.
The trucks combine PlusAI’s SuperDrive software, trained over 6 million real-world miles, with a sensor suite of lidar, radar, and cameras for 360-degree awareness. SuperDrive uses end-to-end AI to adapt to different routes and road conditions. International brings nearly two centuries of experience in truck production and a nationwide dealer network to handle servicing and support. NVIDIA’s DRIVE AGX Thor will serve as the central computing platform for real-time autonomous driving.
“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. 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,” said David Liu, CEO and Co-founder at PlusAI, in an official press release.
The companies say this effort builds on trials already underway in Texas and sets the stage for factory-built autonomy at commercial scale. The goal is to deliver a reliable, production-ready platform tailored to freight carriers, with safety and uptime built into the core design.
🌀 Tom’s Take:
Retrofitted autonomy is hard to scale, but integrating it during manufacturing signals a push toward real commercial deployment.
Source: Business Wire / PlusAI
