Autonomous vehicle (AV) software-as-a-service company Embark Trucks, Inc. has announced that it will use Nvidia’s Drive compute platform solutions to power the Embark Universal Interface (EUI) and Embark Driver software. The Nvidia collaboration will enable Embark to equip its truck test fleet with the automotive-grade, high-performance, and energy-efficient compute required to scale and integrate its platform within carrier fleets.

With the EUI, Embark is pioneering an OEM-agnostic approach for self-driving software on trucks that enables trialing and deploying of the company’s tech with a carrier’s preferred OEM. Using a set of standardized self-driving components (sensors and compute) and flexible interfaces, the EUI is being developed for trucks from the four major OEM brands in the U.S.—Freightliner, Navistar, PACCAR, and Volvo—that represent a majority of the Class 8 trucks on the road. By developing a platform that can be retrofitted to a wide range of trucks, Embark is helping the trucking industry realize the benefits of AI-powered driving without having to wait for purpose-built vehicles.

To meet “the high safety and performance standards demanded by the Embark Driver software via the EUI, we need an enormous amount of compute power in our trucks,” said Ajith Dasari, the Head of Hardware Platform at Embark. “The Nvidia Drive platform meets this need head-on and allows us to outfit our partners and customers with the best self-driving hardware and software currently on the market.”

Nvidia says its Drive platform is the first scalable AI (artificial intelligence) platform featuring codeveloped hardware and software that work together to enable greater vehicle autonomy, combining deep learning, sensor fusion, and surround vision for safer driving. This open end-to-end platform allows for one development investment across a fleet, from Level 2+ driver-assist systems to Level 5 autonomous-vehicle tech.

By selecting the Nvidia platform, “Embark will help accelerate the development of commercial self-driving software-as-a-service for the trucking industry, achieving a safer and more efficient freight ecosystem,” said Rishi Dhall, Vice President of Automotive Business at Nvidia.

The cooperation marks the next step in a four-year relationship with Nvidia and comes at a momentous time for Embark.

In April, the company announced the Partner Development Program, the cornerstone of its go-to-market strategy. It unveiled partnerships with carriers including Knight-Swift Transportation, Werner Enterprises, Mesilla Valley Transportation, and Bison Transport—and shippers including Anheuser Busch InBev and HP, Inc. The initiatives are meant to enable Embark to rapidly scale its self-driving truck technology business.

In June, the company announced a business combination agreement with Northern Genesis Acquisition Corp. II to go public. The transaction will provide about $614 million in gross cash proceeds to the company, $414 million from Northern Genesis Acquisition Corp. II, and a $200 million common-stock PIPE supported by the likes of CPP Investments, Knight-Swift Transportation, Mubadala Capital, Sequoia Capital, and Tiger Global Management. The proceeds are expected to fully fund the Embark business through commercialization in 2024, and value the Embark enterprise at about $4.55 billion with a market capitalization of about $5.16 billion.

Founded in 2016 by CEO Alex Rodrigues and CTO Brandon Moak, over the last five years Embark has operated America’s longest-running road-testing program for self-driving trucks to refine its self-driving software. The San Francisco-based company partners with leading carriers that pay a per-mile subscription cost for its Driver software that enables self-driving trucks within their fleets.

“We have been solely focused on solving the problem of self-driving software for trucking since Embark’s CTO, Brandon Moak, and I founded the company in 2016,” said Rodrigues. “This singular and disciplined focus on the trucking market in the United States has allowed Embark to achieve many industry-first technology milestones—including the first self-driving truck to drive coast-to-coast—and positions Embark to be a leader in autonomous trucking software.”

Embark is building its technology to address what it feels are the unmet needs of the $700 billion a year trucking market in the U.S.

For carriers, the company expects its AV solution to provide a compelling economics case with up to two times the profit margin on AV miles, about three times more annual revenue per truck via 24/7 operation, and a decreased payback period.

For shippers, it expects a doubling of daily range from 500 to 1000 mi (805 to 1610 km), reducing delivery time by 40%. Fuel efficiency per mile should improve up to 10%, driving a reduction in carbon emissions due to better speed management and supporting carrier and shipper sustainability objectives. Autonomous driving would directly address the 5000 deaths and 151,000 injuries attributable to human error.

The company says its AV solution helps alleviate issues around a driver shortage that currently numbers 60,000 and is expected to rise to 160,000 by 2028, leaving thousands of trucks “against the fences” at large carriers. It will also improve the quality of life for drivers, by allowing them to be home every night.

Embark’s proprietary Active Learning system uses real-world situations to rapidly improve performance by finding and solving edge cases that are critical to the deployment of safe self-driving. The Active Learning pipeline is fed by uploading fleet data to a cloud-based selection engine, which identifies edge cases by sampling and analyzing detection uncertainty for object existence, class, and position across multiple permutations of the deployed model. This culminates with a rank order of relative data value. With the most valuable data automatically identified, the team can focus its labeling and training efforts to provide the quickest, most effective feedback loop for the Embark Driver—resulting in constantly improving performance.

Recent key technical milestones—including handling highway work zones on the fly—and the announcement of the Partner Development Program mark the start of Embark’s transition from research to commercialization.

“After many years of R&D on the world’s most mature self-driving truck software stack, we plan to enable carrier operation of self-driving trucks in the U.S. sunbelt beginning in 2024,” added Rodrigues.

The Northern Genesis team is an enthusiastic partner for Embark as it continues on its focused mission.

“Our respective teams share a conviction that success today demands alignment with the ongoing secular shifts towards sustainability and social responsibility,” said Ian Robertson, Director and CEO of Northern Genesis II. “Embark’s commitment to autonomous trucking delivers that alignment through enhanced fuel efficiency, improved driver working conditions, and safer roads for everyone.”