Plus.ai, Transportation Research Center partnering to conduct capability tests of Plus.ai's self-driving system

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Plus.ai has announced an agreement with North America’s largest independent vehicle test facility and proving grounds, the Transportation Research Center (TRC), to conduct capability tests of Plus.ai’s self-driving system using a rigorous multi-vehicle approach.

Expected to break new ground in Level 4 commercial vehicle testing, this test program will utilize a multi-vehicle test approach to simulate complex, real-world driving conditions. Current published standards only require a single other vehicle test, Plus.ai notes. 

“Our team has been obsessing over every detail to build a safe and reliable self-driving system for trucks. Safety permeates everything we do, from software architecture, to redundant systems validation, to operator training and vehicle testing,” explains Shawn Kerrigan, COO and co-founder, Plus.ai.

“We believe an independent party should validate a self-driving system’s road readiness using realistic, complex scenarios, much like humans have to pass driving tests in order to be licensed. We hope this becomes a model for the testing of all automated trucks in the future.”

Leveraging nearly 50 years of experience testing and perfecting new products for automotive and technology companies across the globe, TRC designed and implemented Plus.ai’s safety tests. During testing, the Plus.ai self-driving system’s ability to consistently handle multiple vehicle scenarios that best simulate complex, realistic driving conditions will be evaluated.

An example of this is the Plus.ai driving system being tasked with having to predict how the vehicles will react to each other, which allows it to plan a safe way to control the truck in response. According to Plus.ai, this is a “more rigorous” test of the perception, prediction, and planning systems, involving aspects that would not be tested in a single other vehicle approach.

Tests will be conducted on the highway in both free-flowing and stop-and-go traffic. Other testing scenarios will involve construction zones, disabled vehicles, and bicycles, to name a few. These scenarios will be repeated for different weather conditions and a range of visibility and lighting.

“Our team has been working tirelessly to develop world class facilities, techniques, and technical expertise to evaluate automated driving systems,” says Brett Roubinek, president and CEO of TRC Inc.

“We are excited to welcome Plus.ai to TRC, and to execute a battery of tests using our full set of tools, and pushing the limits of commercial vehicle testing.”

Plus.ai notes that its testing program builds upon the existing standards, protocols and safety ratings created by the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), the European New Car Assessment Programme (Euro NCAP), and standards developers such as the Society of Automotive Engineers. Plus.ai says that the planned testing is the first phase of a more comprehensive and ongoing test program that will build on this experience to ensure Plus.ai’s self-driving system is safe and validated for commercialization.