开始自动驾驶卡车筹集了30米系列B

踏上自动驾驶卡车. (Credit: Embark)

踏self-driving trucks received an infusion of $30 million in Series B funding. The round, led by Sequoia Capital, raises the total funding to $47 million since the Embark self-driving trucks debuted in 2016.

资金将有助于将车队从五到100个开始自动驾驶卡车增加，并帮助购买所需的相机，激光器和雷达系统。Sequoia Partner Pat Grady加入了踏板的董事会。现有投资者包括数据集体，Ycombinator，SV天使和AME云也参加了这一轮。

开始自动驾驶卡车被认为是2级automation, meaning a human driver must actively monitor the truck at all times. CEO Alex Rodrigues has said the plan is to develop Embark self-driving trucks to Level 4 automation so the trucks can travel on limited, specific highway routes with no human driver. These Level 4 trucks would operate as part of a freight system, in which trailers are exchanged between local drivers and driverless trucks at freight hubs.

自动驾驶卡车行业迅速变得拥挤。许多公司都是developing and testing self-driving trucks, including Starsky Robotics, TuSimple, Uber, Waymo and Anthony Levandowski’s new company Kache.ai. Trucking is a $700 billion industry in the US, touching every corner of the economy. More than 3.5 million Americans are truck drivers.

踏上自动驾驶卡车日常运行

踏also just opened an operations center in Ontario, Calif., a suburb of Los Angeles. In a blog on Medium announcing the new funding, Rodrigues says this puts Embark self-driving trucks “right in the middle of the west coast’s biggest freight hub.”

踏上自动驾驶卡车are running daily service on a freight route from LA to Phoenix and back. “As of June, our system can complete the route end-to-end with no disengagements. This includes lane changes, merges, on-ramps, off-ramps and lots of LA-metro traffic.”

2018年2月，距离佛罗里达州杰克逊维尔的5天，2,400英里驾驶了五天，从佛罗里达州佛罗里达州。卡车里面有一个人类的安全司机为整个旅行，但绝大多数驾驶是自主，在A.没有脱离的时间。

Rodrigues表示，逃跑加入游轮，优步和Waymo，作为唯一有100,000多个公共考试里程的自动驾驶公司。