Embracing the Future: Torc Robotics’ Emerging Talent Program

Embracing the Future: Torc Robotics’ Emerging Talent Program

by | Aug 4, 2024 | Featured, Careers, Education

 

As part of our efforts to attract the best talent in autonomous technology, we’re constantly evolving our recruitment efforts. From creating strategic partnerships with educational institutions to expanding our co-ops, internships, and early career full time opportunities, we’re committed to finding and nurturing the best minds in the autonomous trucking industry.

In order to achieve our world-class recruiting goals, we’ve expanded our early-career tactics beyond the traditional university pathway and into our newest initiative: The Emerging Talent Program, encompassing community colleges, candidates of diverse backgrounds, and more.

About the Emerging Talent Program

This purposeful decision to expand our early career pathways aims to create a broader, more inclusive vision of our autonomous world. At Torc, we’re evolving with the global workforce to create new opportunities for future engineers, AI experts, and freight professionals.

Our new Emerging Talent program is centered around embracing diversity and nurturing the potential of individuals from all backgrounds. Whether you’re looking for early career opportunities in engineering or fleet operations, we’re encouraging our company to embrace all levels of talent, driving innovation and growth within our self-driving development teams. As we move towards this comprehensive approach, we’re building our methods on the following pillars:

  • Non-Traditional Pathways. “Emerging Talent” encompasses individuals from diverse educational backgrounds, including but not limited to community colleges, HBCUs, HSIs, MSIs, and more. coding bootcamps, vocational schools, and apprenticeships.
  • Partnerships and Engagement. This program allows us to engage with talent at the K-12 level, allowing us to showcase future career opportunities to our community.
  • Recognizing Diverse Age Groups. Not all students follow the traditional path of entering and graduating from their educational path in their early twenties; our plan encompasses those who might be shifting careers, returning to the workforce after caring for family members, or entering a brand-new field of study.
  • Focusing on Potential, Not Pedigree. We put emphasis on talent and skills over educational background. At Torc, your dedication to your work and experience is what helps carry our self-driving technology forward.
  • Development Focus. We’re focused on nurturing and developing our team’s talent through their early career stages and beyond, allowing each individual to unlock their true potential at Torc.

 

Beyond Theory, Into Execution with KIT

One of our first forays into this new initiative includes our partnership with Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT). As part of our collaboration with KIT, we’ve created a robust talent pipeline that encompasses both students and full-time employees. Through this partnership, we’re able to engage with top-tier talent from KIT’s innovative global community.

Simon Schaefer – From KIT to Torc Robotics
Simon Schaefer exemplifies the success of Torc’s Emerging Talent strategy. As a former student at KIT, Simon was a member of the Formula Student team “KA-RaceIng”, where he and his team built an autonomous race car. Thanks to Daimler Truck and later Torc sponsoring and supporting this team, Simon discovered Torc as an attractive employer and successfully applied for a job. Since then, he has transitioned seamlessly into his role at Torc where he works on the Vehicle Intent team. Simon has become a model employee and ambassador for our self-driving technology, complete with the hands-on experience in engineering and teamwork that KIT fostered in him. As an ambassador, Simon continues to foster the relationship between Torc and KIT, helping to attract and mentor the next generation of engineers.

Setu Namburu – Nurturing Early Career Talent

As a Manager of Applied Data Science at Torc, Setu is a key part of developing and delivering data-driven solutions for our self-driving technology. Using her extensive skills and background, she’s successfully converted five data science/analytics internship students into full-time employees during her time at Torc, showcasing her dedication to nurturing early career talent. Her leadership has been instrumental to Torc’s shift into this new program. Through her ability to guide, mentor, and advocate for early career professionals, Setu sets an incredible standard for our recruiting future.

Christin Scheib – From Europe to Blacksburg

Originally a student at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology and a Torc co-op, Christin has successfully transitioned to a full-time engineering role, moving from Europe to Torc’s HQ in Blacksburg, Virginia in the process. Since starting her work in automated truck technology, Christin’s efforts have allowed our hardware and software components to come together seamlessly, showcasing the potential that students can offer when converted to full-time employees.

Brent Papenfuse – Transforming Student Excellence to New Heights

Brent has been a key part of revolutionizing what recruitment means at Torc. In his capacity as Program Manager, Brent not only develops certification programs and maintenance procedures for our autonomous trucking solution, but spearheads hiring initiatives from technology schools and community colleges. He has also partnered with the Emerging Talent community program to influence company roles in diesel mechanics, fostering a new generation of professionals that is both technology-forward and rooted in traditional mechanics.

Alexia Tran – Propelling Achievement Across Borders

Alexia started her Torc journey as a research and development intern at Torc’s Montreal offices, where she developed state-of-the-art test benches, reverse engineered CAN bus messages, and more. After demonstrating her outstanding skills in everything autonomous engineering, Alexia was hired on as a full-time Systems Engineer. Alexia is a proud example of Torc’s community of globe-trotting professionals, having moved from Montreal to Torc’s Stuttgart, Germany offices in the name of developing our self-driving solution.

RELATED: Visit the Emerging Talent LinkedIn Page

The Future of Emerging Talent at Torc Robotics

Looking ahead, we’re envisioning that our new initiative will be a key driver of our growth strategy. Talent pipelines and software engineering internships like the ones we’ve developed with KIT will continue to be a crucial component, ensuring a steady stream of top-tier talent from across the globe. Alongside this strategy, we’re focusing on inclusivity, adaptability, and skills-based hiring across the board. We’re dedicated to attract and retain the best talent that the self-driving engineering world has to offer, driving our technology and our company forward in a competitive and dynamic industry.

Torc to Present Nine Papers at CVPR 2024

Torc to Present Nine Papers at CVPR 2024

by | May 31, 2024 | Education, Featured

Driving Autonomous AI with Torc’s Head of Intelligence

This summer, Torc’s Head of Artificial Intelligence, Felix Heide, and his team of both Princeton University and Torc colleagues will present an extraordinary total of nine papers at the IEEE / CVF Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition Conference (CVPR). Featuring information on geometry reconstruction, generative method, learning techniques, novel datasets and more, Felix and his team will exhibit their core competencies in researching and creating AI tools and techniques for self-driving artificial intelligence and beyond.

Torc at IEEE/CVF CVPR Conference

As one of the primary events in the field of computer vision, CVPR brings leading researchers, industry professionals, academics, and more, to a weeklong conversation about the latest findings in the world of computer vision and pattern recognition. With its main exhibition floor, presentations, and expert attendees, CVPR offers all levels of computer science professional with an opportunity to share their cutting-edge research and collaborate within the community. The IEEE/CVF CVPR Conference serves as the perfect backdrop for the innovative research Torc is spearheading.

The nine papers at CVPR 2024 cover a wide range of topics, each offering unique insights and contributions to the field. From advancements in neural rendering to new types of lidar, Felix, joined by his Princeton and Torc teams, has developed comprehensive content that reflects the depth and breadth of the industry’s expertise. Their work showcases the latest developments in computer vision and pattern recognition and indicates the ongoing progress of autonomous trucking technology.

Innovating Freight with AI

The significance of this research extends far beyond the confines of academic discourse. By pushing the boundaries of AI and machine learning, this work has the potential to revolutionize the autonomous driving industry and reshape the way we interact with technology. At Torc, these contributions help us pave the way for safer, more efficient freight systems that will benefit fleet professionals, everyday consumers, and all highway users.

As we move forward, AI research points us towards exciting new possibilities for collaboration and innovation. As academia, industry, and other research organizations come together to tackle the challenges of tomorrow, conferences like CVPR play a crucial role in fostering dialogue and driving progress. By sharing their insights and expertise, researchers like Felix and his team can shape the future of AI and propel us towards a world where driverless trucks enhance our lives in ways we’ve only begun to imagine.

These contributions not only highlight the cutting-edge research happening at Torc Robotics but also underscore the validity and potential of autonomous technology. As we continue to innovate our automated truck technology, our team’s contributions propel us to drive the future of freight in new and innovative ways. For our team, self-driving AI isn’t just a future concept, but a tangible reality that will make our world safer, faster, and stronger.

 

About Felix Heide, Torc’s Head of AI

Felix Heide is an industry leader in both artificial intelligence and autonomous technology. His journey to becoming an expert in general artificial intelligence, self-driving AI, and machine learning began long before his time at Torc, ranging from his first internship with NVIDIA Research in 2013 to his current role leading autonomous trucking development.

Felix is an Assistant Professor at Princeton University, Head of AI at Torc Robotics, and founder of the self-driving vehicle startup Algolux (now part of Torc). He is researching the theory and application of computational imaging and computer vision systems. Exploring imaging, vision, and display systems end-to-end, Felix’s work lies at the intersection of artificial intelligence, computer graphics, and computer vision.

He received his Ph.D. from the University of British Columbia, his undergraduate degree from the University of Siegen, and was a postdoc at Stanford University. His doctoral dissertation won the Alain Fournier Dissertation Award and the SIGGRAPH outstanding doctoral dissertation award. He won the NSF CAREER Award 2021 and the Sony Young Faculty Award 2021. He was named a Packard Fellow in 2022 and a Sloan Research Fellow in 2023. Felix was named SIGGRAPH New Significant Researcher in 2023.

 

 

This article is part one of three articles about Torc’s presence at CVPR this year. Look for more news about specific paper information, and the CVPR event in June.

Lane-Keeping in Self-Driving Trucks: Precision and Trust

Lane-Keeping in Self-Driving Trucks: Precision and Trust

by | May 29, 2024 | Education, Featured

Across all the features that self-driving technology has to offer, we might think of lane keeping as one of the most basic features possible. However, lane keeping is a complex behavior that relies on multiple components, sensors, and procedures to complete safe driving behaviors. In self-driving technology, precision is everything, making lane keeping a foundational necessity that underscores the safe and efficient operation of robotic trucks.

What is lane keeping?

Lane keeping is a critical driving functionality that ensures a vehicle stays within its designated lane on the road. Many newer consumer cars and commercial semi-trucks have some form of autonomous lane-keeping system programmed in, albeit there are several nuances and differences between types of lane-keeping systems, such as:

Lane Keep Assist (LKA)

Lane Keep Assist is a feature that can be toggled on and off on most vehicles. It typically works via camera, allowing the LKA to “see” the lane lines and nudge your vehicle within the lane lines when it begins to drift. However, because it’s camera-based, this feature may struggle to perform in muddy, snowy, or especially rainy conditions.

Lane Keep Assist is sometimes confused with Lane Departure Warning, which alerts drivers via haptic feedback, audible alerts, and sometimes indicator lights, if they’ve begun drifting out of the lane. Unlike other forms of lane-keeping systems, lane departure warning won’t correct the vehicle’s path. Instead, its job is to inform the driver that the vehicle is exiting the lane.

Lane Centering Assist (LCA)

Lane centering, sometimes called autosteer, takes LKA a step further. This feature is typically part of a vehicle’s adaptive cruise control, wherein a vehicle performs most highway behaviors itself while under human supervision. Lane centering is an active technology that keeps a vehicle in the center of its lane and can typically be turned on and off.

Today, many Class 8 trucks come equipped with various forms of Lane Keep Assist, Lane Centering Assist, and Adaptive Cruise Control. Aside from making drives safer for truck drivers and other highway users alike, these features can adjust throttle inputs and gear ratios for more efficient driving behaviors. By utilizing these features, drivers can optimize the amount of fuel their equipment consumes, reducing costs across the board.

Why is lane keeping important?

Lane keeping plays a foundational role in ensuring the safe and efficient operation of any vehicle, including our autonomous trucks. By enabling our robotic trucks to steadfastly maintain their designated lanes, we’re not only addressing a core competency in highway navigation but proving that our technology can be a safe foundation for a self-driving system.

Lane-keeping is important because of its impact on safety, but there are a few other reasons why we focus on this behavior as one of the most integral in safe-driving technology.

lane keeping

 

Traffic Flow and Predictability

When vehicles stay within their designated lanes, it reduces the likelihood of swerving and abrupt lane changes. When we humans learn to drive, we learn that being a predictable driver means being a safe driver.

Our autonomous technology is no different. In order to reduce the likelihood of traffic accidents and promote smoother traffic flow, we must ensure that other drivers are able to anticipate what our self-driving truck is going to do at all times. Whether that means keeping a consistent, steady pace within one lane or using an indicator light to shift lanes, predictability should be at the forefront of all lane-keeping behaviors.

Efficiency

By staying within the given lane, vehicles maximize the use of available road space, allowing more efficient traffic flow. During peak hours, when space is at a premium, this can reduce delays, avoid bottlenecks, and make it easier for vehicles to travel at a consistent speed throughout their journey.

How do self-driving cars and trucks stay in their lanes?

Self-driving trucks and self-driving cars stay in their lanes via cameras, Global Navigation Satellite Systems, LiDAR (or Light Detection and Ranging sensors), and more. Thanks to the work of autonomous driving engineers, our self-driving semi-trucks’ perception suite can recognize lane markers, interpret them correctly, and communicate this information to the rest of the system. From there, the autonomous driving system can utilize the information to maintain a set speed and keep watch on the distance between it and the vehicle in front of it.

There’s a common misconception that driverless cars and driverless trucks rely on lane markers alone to make sense of the path before them. While this used to be the case for very early self-driving cars, our autonomous abilities have advanced to grand new heights. Today, lane markers (and the cameras that “see” them) are just one piece of the puzzle.

Self-driving vehicles also utilize radar, which is sometimes found in Lane Keep Assist programs that we have in our day-to-day cars. Radar adds an additional safety component to lane navigation. Using radio waves to detect objects like other cars and traffic cones, radar helps paint the picture of what the driving environment looks like. In the same vein, mapping allows a self-driving vehicle to utilize historical information about the road to navigate in conjunction with the other tools in its toolbox. These two tools work with lane marker detection to assess the environment, calculate the safest possible behavior, and execute that behavior.

Lane Keeping and Robotic Trucks

As proponents of safe and sustainable self-driving practices, our autonomous driving system keeps in line with regulatory and industry best practices throughout all lane keeping behaviors. Aside from its impact on safety, proper lane keeping allows us to operate predictably to drivers on the road around us, prove our product’s viability, and promote a safe self-driving future.

As we forge ahead with our driverless trucking development, we will continue to innovate, collaborate, and lead the way in advancing our autonomous driving system. Through ongoing research, development, and collaboration with our stakeholders and partners, we will further enhance our lane-keeping capabilities to meet the evolving needs and expectations of the industry and the public. Together, we’re driving the future of freight.

 

 

Are Torc’s driverless trucks currently on the road today?

by | May 2, 2024 | Frequently Asked Questions

Vehicle testing is paramount to our success. Our routes include public roads in Virginia and New Mexico, chosen in part for their diverse terrain, traffic, and weather conditions. Our testing on closed-course tracks includes Virginia Tech Transportation Institute and a Daimler Trucks facility in Madras, Oregon. In addition to test tracks, Torc has tested numerous vehicle platforms on public roads in 20 states over the past 14 years.

Are Autonomous Vehicles the Future?

Are Autonomous Vehicles the Future?

by | Mar 13, 2024 | Education

The future of everyday technology is full of innovations taken straight out of The Jetsons. But from 3D-printed food to robot butlers, we’re not so far from that sci-fi idea of what tomorrow looks like. Today, we ask our smart assistants to play our favorite songs and program our robot vacuums to clean the house while we’re at work. Our future, and our present, is full of these kinds of forward-thinking inventions, including self-driving vehicles.

While self-driving vehicles are still a ways out from becoming flying cars, autonomous transportation is rapidly becoming part of our current lives. In fact, many cars on the road currently have some degree of autonomy – and we’re not just talking about luxury autopilot features.

Programs like lane-keep assist and cruise control are all considered Level One Autonomy, or assisted driving. These days, cars with Level One autonomous functions are very, very common; it’s likely that you’ve driven one yourself. And as for Level Two Autonomy, wherein vehicles control both steering and accelerating/decelerating, there are a few cars on the road with this function, albeit their numbers are rapidly rising as autonomous technology becomes more affordable.

We might have autonomous vehicles now, but are autonomous vehicles the future? Will that Jetsons-esque future become our everyday?

Let’s Explore: Autonomous Trucking

At Torc Robotics, we’ve been in the autonomous technology world since 2005. As seasoned veterans in the self-driving world, we whole-heartedly believe that autonomous vehicles are the future. We believe that autonomous trucking will be one of the first forms of self-driving to make it to the market, with Torc trucks at the head of the pack.

Autonomous trucks, like the ones we’re developing at Torc, are the most viable form of self-driving technology due to a host of reasons, but some of the most apparent are our trucks’ addition of lidar and radar in combination with a full camera suite. When added to a Class 8 truck, these features allow our vehicles to understand what’s in the surrounding environment in real-time.

And while autonomous driving systems will certainly make the roads safer for all, autonomous trucking adds a layer of usefulness that personal self-driving cars aren’t geared towards. From strengthening supply chains to driving down the cost of goods, trucks like ours will create a better future in countless ways.

So, are autonomous trucks the future? Yes! Once it’s safe for driver-out vehicles to put tires to the pavement, you can expect autonomous trucks to carry goods to-and-from shipping hubs across the country.

Let’s Explore: Autonomous Cars

In the past few years, autonomous cars have exploded onto the scene. Although there are some flashy headlines and sleek cars rolling out onto city streets, are autonomous cars the future?

The answer is: yes, but it’s a little more complicated than the autonomous trucking equivalent.

Autonomous cars are certainly probable and possible; we’ll likely see Level Four autonomy on our streets in the near future. Thanks to algorithmic precision and sensors far better than the human eye, these cars will make our roads safer. They’ll also be more efficient thanks to carefully managed gas consumption, eco-friendly decision-making, and more.

However, the cost of hardware is currently a huge challenge for the kinds of cars that we park in our driveways. From high-performance computing to mass-market manufacturing, it’s difficult to create a self-driving car that is safe, affordable, and maintainable for the average person. That’s not to say that it’ll never happen – it’ll just take some time before technology catches up to affordability. For now, those looking for a self-driving vehicle can look towards the various Level Two autonomous cars currently available.

Other Considerations: Software, Weather, and More

An autonomous vehicle, whether it’s a self-driving truck or a self-driving car, is an amalgamation of sensors, algorithms, processors, and more. At autonomous driving companies like Torc, we’re working to develop software that combines these elements in seamless, sophisticated ways. We’re laser-focused on developing trucks that operate autonomously in a few particular use cases: for example, in ideal weather conditions.

You might’ve heard that autonomous driving systems are still tackling the inclement weather challenge. While autonomous vehicles use a variety of sensors, cold inclement weather is still something the industry has yet to solve. Therefore, self-driving vehicles will likely launch in the Sunbelt region of the United States, where the weather is mostly temperate and snow isn’t a concern. However, we don’t expect snow to be an issue for long; there are promising solutions on the horizon, including ground-penetrating radar and other forms of localization methods. With so many developers working in a fast-paced, innovative industry, it’s only a matter of time before today’s problems become tomorrow’s footnotes.

So, Are Autonomous Vehicles the Future?

Yes. Autonomous vehicles are the future, just as they’re part of our present. As the autonomous driving industry continues to race towards self-driving solutions, we’re excited to see where the future leads us.