Plus.ai expands autonomous testing
Plus.ai, a provider of self-driving truck technology, announced during the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas NV a safety testing program in which the company will expand the testing of its self-driving trucks to cover all permissible continental states in the United States by the end of 2020.
The program will include closed course testing as well as public road testing, with a safety driver and operations specialist on board to assume manual control if needed. The company is exploring new testing facilities and pilot runs that will broaden the complex driving scenarios that its autonomous system is capable of handling.
“We want to build a technology solution that is applicable across different weather, terrains, and driving scenarios,” said Shawn Kerrigan, chief operating officer and co-founder, Plus.ai. “Testing our trucks’ readiness means we need to put them through stringent safety tests, on every highway in the country. That is why we are committing to expand our testing to all states that allow autonomous vehicle testing by the end of this year.” Plus.ai has already conducted testing of its autonomous trucks in 17 states, including Arizona, California, Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nevada, New Mexico, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, West Virginia, and Wyoming. It was the first autonomous trucking company to test in many of these states.
“We look forward to having Plus.ai test their autonomous trucks in Minnesota this winter,” said Kristin White, executive director of MnDOT’s Office of Connected and Automated Vehicles. “Safety innovation is a win for everyone in the transportation system.
Patrick Smith, interim executive director of DriveOhio, added: “The smart mobility ecosystem we’ve established in Ohio is a premier testing ground for autonomous vehicles. Ohio is excited to welcome leading autonomous trucking companies like Plus.ai to test at our state-of-the-art facilities and infrastructure.”
Plus.ai expects that the new testing sites and states will be selected by the end of first quarter in 2020, and implementation will take place through the rest of the year. Solving autonomous driving requires exposure to all kinds of long tail phenomena. The year-long effort will accelerate that process. Through this testing program, Plus.ai is also developing new metrics that can measure the readiness of its autonomous driving system for commercial deployment.
