NVIDIA invests in Chinese self-driving truck startup

NVIDIA has been spending money on AI, deep learning, and self-driving car technologies and investments into startups for a while now, but they've just splashed down $20 million into a funding round for TuSimple.

TuSimple is a Chinese autonomous trucking startup, with Sina leading a new funding round that will include NVIDIA Drive PX 2 autonomous computers, Jetson TX2, and other NVIDIA products. TuSimple has already completed a SAE Level 4 (true self-driving) test ride between San Diego, California and Yuma, Arizona.

TuSimple completed the self-driving truck test in June, with a 200-mile journey that used cameras to navigate along the highways. The company has R&D facilities in both Beijing and San Diego, along with over 100 staff.

The company uses HD mapping of the routes the self-driving trucks take, as well as three millimeter-wave radar units, and the feeds from 8 cameras on-board. TuSimple says that it can hit "centimeter-level" accuracy for truck positioning, and get this - even when it's in a tunnel, with its in-house AI making sure the truck has safe navigation.