Vueron Newsletter
No. 175
2025.01.31
| Torc signs lease to create autonomous trucking hub in AllianceTexas | ||
| Autonomous Driving | Pony AI expects big breakthrough with autonomous driving in Hong Kong | |
| Autonomous Driving | Nvidia creates artificial intelligence that trains cars | |
| Waymo’s international expansion will begin this year on the streets of Tokyo | ||
| Hyundai collaborates with Nvidia on artificial intelligence |
1. Torc signs lease to create autonomous trucking hub in AllianceTexas
- Torc, Daimler Truck AG’s autonomous trucking subsidiary, has signed a lease for a 17-acre facility in Hillwood’s AllianceTexas development in Fort Worth, Texas.
- The facility will serve as Torc’s autonomous truck hub, supporting testing efforts, customer freight pilots, and future commercialization planned for 2027.
- The hub’s location near the I-35 freight corridor between Dallas and Laredo provides strategic access to the largest U.S. economic port of entry, with over 15,000 daily truck crossings.
- Torc plans to build the facility, which includes 22,000 square feet of office space, in the first half of 2025.
CEO Peter Vaughan Schmidt emphasized the hub’s importance for serving customers and advancing autonomous trucking technology in logistics. - Hillwood highlighted the collaboration as a step toward enhancing supply chain resilience and fostering mobility innovation in the logistics industry.
Torc establishes a new autonomous truck hub in AllianceTexas, strategically positioned to advance testing, freight pilots, and commercialization.
2. Pony AI expects big breakthrough with autonomous driving in Hong Kong
- Pony AI plans to launch driverless transportation services at Hong Kong International Airport, one of the busiest airports globally.
- The company aims to gradually expand its robotaxi services to urban areas in Hong Kong, navigating unique challenges like left-side driving, dense traffic, and complex intersections.
- Pony AI is one of the first companies in China to obtain licenses to operate fully driverless vehicles in all four Tier-1 cities: Beijing, Guangzhou, Shanghai, and Shenzhen.
- The company has begun offering public fare-charging robotaxi services in Beijing, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen without safety drivers.
- Pony AI has expanded its presence to Europe, East Asia, the Middle East, and other markets, demonstrating its global reach.
- Shares rose 0.1% in premarket trading to $15.28, following its IPO last November, priced at $13.00 per ADS.
3. Nvidia creates artificial intelligence that trains cars
- At CES 2025, Nvidia introduced Cosmos, a platform to create virtual scenarios for training autonomous driving systems.
- Cosmos generates realistic videos simulating road conditions, weather, and physical interactions, aiding AI in understanding the real world.
- Developers can create customized models using text prompts and upload videos or photos, allowing for economical and safe training of autonomous systems.
- The platform utilizes over 20 million hours of footage, described by CEO Jensen Huang as a “virtual encyclopedia for AI.”
- Nvidia’s DRIVE AGX Orin platform, based on DriveOS, supports advanced hardware and software for autonomous driving.
- Partnerships with Toyota, Aurora, and Continental highlight plans to deploy self-driving trucks and vehicles.
- Additional collaborators include BYD, Jaguar Land Rover, Mercedes-Benz, Rivian, Volvo Cars, and Zoox, showcasing widespread adoption of Nvidia’s technology.
- CEO Chris Urmson of Aurora stated that scaling autonomous trucks could revolutionize logistics and daily life.
Nvidia unveiled Cosmos, a platform that uses virtual scenarios to train autonomous driving systems, revolutionizing AI development and expanding partnerships with major automakers.
4. Waymo’s international expansion will begin this year on the streets of Tokyo
- Waymo is set to expand internationally by deploying autonomous vehicles in Tokyo within a few months, its first market outside the U.S.
- The deployment will be in collaboration with Nihon Kotsu, Japan’s largest taxi company, and integrated with the taxi app GO.
- The first fleet will consist of Jaguar I-PACE vehicles, modified for left-lane driving and Tokyo’s traffic conditions.
- Initially, these vehicles will be manually driven by Waymo’s human drivers to map city routes before autonomous operation begins.
- This expansion allows Waymo to test its technology in Tokyo’s dense urban environment and work closely with local partners and authorities.
- Waymo has committed to strict safety standards during its testing phase.
- The international rollout follows recent criticism after a robotaxi malfunction in San Francisco, where a vehicle circled an intersection endlessly due to a technical failure, raising concerns about reliability.
- The incident underscores the importance of robust backup systems to prevent unpredictable behavior in autonomous vehicles.
Waymo is launching its first international autonomous vehicle service in Tokyo, collaborating with Nihon Kotsu to test and integrate its technology into the city’s transportation ecosystem.
5. Hyundai collaborates with Nvidia on artificial intelligence
- Hyundai collaborates with Nvidia on artificial intelligence.
- Hyundai Motor Group partners with Nvidia to advance AI in robotics, autonomous driving, and smart factories.
- The collaboration will strengthen Hyundai’s focus on Software-defined Vehicles, robotics, and business operations.
- Hyundai will use Nvidia AI Enterprise software and accelerated computing solutions for managing large AI datasets.
- The Nvidia Omniverse platform will be used to simulate factories and develop physical AI applications, improving efficiency and reducing costs.
- The Nvidia Isaac platform will support the creation of advanced AI-powered robots for factory operations.
- Nvidia’s VP of Automotive emphasized the role of this partnership in creating safer, smarter vehicles and more connected, efficient manufacturing systems.
Hyundai partners with Nvidia to advance AI-driven innovations in autonomous driving, robotics, and smart factories, leveraging Nvidia.
*Contents above are the opinion of ChatGPT, not an individual nor company
