BLACKSBURG, Va. — Torc is collaborating with Flex and NVIDIA to develop a scalable physical AI compute system for autonomous trucks.
“NVIDIA DRIVE AGX has been industry-proven in full production for automotive real-time applications at the edge. It delivers the high compute performance, low latency, and multi-sensor connectivity needed for Torc’s sophisticated autonomous trucking software, delivering robust perception, prediction, and planning for safe and reliable operation,” said Rishi Dhall, vice president of automotive at NVIDIA. “Torc is on a clear path to scalable production for its commercial launch in 2027 and working toward a seamless upgrade to NVIDIA DRIVE AGX with DRIVE Thor.”
AI Developed at Torc
According to a joint press release, the physical AI developed at Torc enables self-driving trucks to perceive, understand, and perform complex actions in the real (physical) world. For Torc, physical AI is the core of its software stack that enables trucks to autonomously perceive and navigate their surroundings end-to-end and in real-time using sensors like lidar, radar, and cameras. This allows the truck to make informed decisions about lane changes, braking, and obstacle avoidance to ensure safe and efficient autonomous driving operations and is the first deployment of physical AI for autonomous long-haul trucking at production scale.
Adaptable Tech
According to the release, Torc collaborated closely with NVIDIA on a multi-chip adaptable architecture that leverages DRIVE AGX using the DRIVE Orin system-on-a-chip (SoC) and DriveOS operating system, and with Flex for their Jupiter compute design platform and advanced manufacturing capabilities. This provides Torc with a scalable high-performance production hardware and software platform based on the autonomous-ready Freightliner Cascadia equipped with advanced technologies and redundant systems designed to support future deployment of autonomous driving capabilities. This platform was successfully validated by Torc’s driverless product acceptance test on a closed course at highway speeds last year.
Collaboration
“Our collaboration with Torc, Daimler Truck, and NVIDIA illustrates how Flex partners across the full ecosystem to enable mobility companies to launch next-generation technology with greater resilience and speed,” said Mike Thoeny, President, Automotive, Flex. “We appreciate the trust Torc and Daimler Truck have placed in Flex through leveraging our Jupiter compute platform and advanced manufacturing capabilities to deliver autonomous long-haul trucking at scale.”
NVIDIA DRIVE solutions, paired with Flex’s automotive compute design capabilities, adhere to Torc’s stringent size, performance, cost, and reliability requirements while meeting the total cost of ownership targets of its fleet customers who are pursuing non-stop, long-haul driverless trucking integration. This work provides a true Software Defined Vehicle (SDV) functionality: it is adaptable to ever changing operational design domains, including new lanes, new routes, new hubs, new hardware and sensor configurations, new operational rules, new road conditions, and more, according to the release.
“With Daimler Truck’s autonomous-ready Freightliner Cascadias with in-built redundancy, our work with NVIDIA and Flex is already providing a stable and proven foundation for Torc’s autonomous vehicle technology,” said Torc’s CEO, Peter Vaughan Schmidt, “By leveraging NVIDIA’s DRIVE AGX in-vehicle compute and DriveOS, along with Flex’s Jupiter compute platform, we are able to ensure a low-risk, high-confidence path to production that is able to seamlessly transition as NVIDIA’s and Flex’s solutions continue to evolve.”
Along with Flex, Torc will showcase the advanced capabilities of the joint solution on its demo truck at NVIDIA’s upcoming GTC event from March 17-21 in San Jose, Calif. For more information on Torc, please visit www.torc.ai.
Dana Guthrie is an award-winning journalist who has been featured in multiple newspapers, books and magazines across the globe. She is currently based in the Atlanta, Georgia, area.
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