How We Enhanced and Customized Heavy Duty Fleet Monitoring and the Management System for Autonomous Operations
Service
Product Development
Client
TuSimple
Industry
Autonomous driving & Logistics
Platform
Web
We relish our partnership with TuSimple. Together, we built a working environment with trust and strong collaboration that delivered a set of applications that are unique to autonomous truck fleets.
Our team was agile; we listened carefully to our client’s needs, which is essential for delivering our solutions on time and to the required specifications. We collaborated together, delivering value for TuSimple by solving their problems quickly and efficiently. We’re grateful for our successful partnership with TuSimple.
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We’re Proud of Making Our Client Happy
I want to thank you for keeping the Solvd development work so seamless with TuSimple. I really appreciate what you’ve done. Thanks again for the professional work we achieved together with the Solvd Team.
Director of Product Management at TuSimple
Impact
- Created an environment for easy remote monitoring of an autonomous truck fleet
- Within the remote monitoring system, made working with camera data and LiDAR data easier
- Designed a module to inspect autonomous fleets before their departure
- Improved administrative functions to manage the fleet and the fleet’s assets
- Built an analytics dashboard to track utilization and performance
Engagement Model
Outsourcing
Duration
1.5 years
Effort
9 team members
Meet Our Client
TuSimple develops autonomous technologies that make freight transportation safer and more cost-effective. The company made history by becoming the first company in the world to operate a fully autonomous truck on open public roads without a human on board. They plan to provide autonomous freight capacity and serve customers in the US, boosting efficiency while lowering the cost of cargo transportation. They also use AI to dramatically improve road safety and reduce carbon footprint to deliver sustainability.
Their platform TuConnect is a remote monitoring module that helps keep humans connected, enabling them to support an autonomous truck fleet. Our team worked closely with TuSimple to design the submodules and applications that are part of the TuConnect platform. Together, we created a platform that connects an autonomous truck fleet to the TuSimple operation network.
Business Needs
The client needed a remote monitoring solution to support their first driverless demonstration. Time and resources were limited. TuSimple reached out to us at Solvd so that they could reduce the time needed to deliver a reliable and easy-to-use solution. They looked to Solvd to provide a talented team of developers and designers that could create a reliable system for use quickly.
Our team at Solvd resourced and matched a creative team of UI/UX designers and front-end developers to jump-start the project. Our engineers also added program managers and architects to create a support team to meet the client’s needs. Over time, we helped build the core components of TuConnect’s platform.
Personnel
- 1 Project Manager
- 1 System Architect
- 1 Business Analyst
- 1 QA Engineer
- 1 UI/UX Designer
- 4 Front-End Developers
Technologies and Tools
MapBox
ReactJS
Nginx
Jenkins
WebSockets
TypeScript
AntDesign
Docker
Challenges
Our team needed to create both a user-friendly and easy-to-use application interface. To that end, our engineers had a massive amount of data to consider and manage.
Data is of great importance for truck operators who need to be in good control of what’s happening far away from them during truck transit. We used that data to optimize and configure key elements of our client’s solution.
Throughout the project, we had to factor in a time zone gap with our client and the potential communication issues this wide time gap created. Despite this constraint, the Solvd team was flexible, and we collaborated and communicated effectively.
I found it impressive how attentive to details they are and also their ability to work across very different time zones. They were very organized and had a pragmatic way of working with TuSimple. They were also very flexible.
Director of Product Management at TuSimple
Results
Solutions
1
Oversight Module
We jointly created a web portal that visualizes the autonomous fleet on a map and that makes remote monitoring activities easier. We provided real-time location and camera data. We also added traffic, construction and weather data that presents a realistic perspective of the real-time environment around the trucks to the remote operators. This solution provided the foundation for TuSimple’s remote operators to interact and connect with the autonomous trucks out on the road.
2
GroundCrew Module
We worked together to create a tightly integrated web application for tablet and mobile phone operators. The app can be used at TuSimple terminals to inspect the autonomous trucks before and after each trip to ensure their safety and streamline operations. All critical safety features are tracked, and a set of customizable checklists are made available to the operator. Every time an operator catches an issue, the system is integrated into Jira and the vehicle maintenance system so that any and all issues can be resolved expeditiously before the truck’s next trip out.
3
Admin Module
Our teams created a module that tracks fleet assets so that the users can stay compliant. The application is robust and easy to use. The platform enables TuSimple to account for their autonomous system versions, tractors, trailers, terminal locations and more. Registering an autonomous truck and tracking its status was made possible by this module.
3
months
One designer worked on the project for 3 months before the first user testing started. The design phase moved quickly as the client provided the team with thorough documentation that helped ensure our close cooperation.
200
Almost 200 user stories were created, with each module including from 5 to 25 items of Acceptance Criteria.
2-3
While developing each new module, the project manager made 2-3 calls a day.
- 4 different time zones
- 1465 hours of design
- 5336 hours of development
- 1516 hours of QA and testing
Working on a project of this level and such a business domain was an honor. Logistics in the US is one of the most in-demand areas and one of the most evolving.
Here you can find a distinct fusion between business and technology. Because the project included other modules, it took a lot of work to adjust the processes between them and maintain the team’s work.
Project Manager at Solvd
