Founded by experts in robotics, Embark claims to be the longest-running self-driving truck program in the U.S., launched in 2016, when self-driving technology wasn’t so popular in the trucking industry. The company’s strategy was to focus exclusively on autonomous software and associated services, which would be universally compatible with most trucks.

So far, the company’s product range includes the Embark Driver, an advanced automated driving software that was specifically developed for trucks, the Embark Universal Interface that is used to integrate autonomous technology onto trucks, a fleet monitoring and remote-assist system.

The startup recently announced that it will start using the Nvidia Drive autonomous vehicle compute platform to power EUI and its Driver software. According to Ajith Dasari, Head of Hardware Platform at Embark, the high performance and safety standards that are required by the autonomous software and interface, can only be met with the help of “an enormous amount of computing power in our trucks”.

Known as the first scalable AI platform that combines hardware and software for the production of automated vehicles (including deep learning, surround vision and advanced sensors), Nvidia Drive was a natural choice.

The flexible EUI was specifically designed to allow carriers to select their preferred OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) when installing the self-driving software. At the moment, the EUI is compatible with four major OEMs – Freightliner, Navistar International, PACCAR, and Volvo – which bring most of the Class-8 trucks on U.S. roads today.

The partnership with Nvidia represents another significant step for Embark. A couple of months ago, the startup announced that it became a publicly listed company, after signing a definitive business combination agreement with Northern Genesis Acquisition Corp. II. Also, its Board of Directors was joined by former Secretary of Transportation, Elaine Chao.

The v9 edition of its FSD beta has been trained on a supercomputer called “Dojo“. This system solely depends on the cameras and sensors on Tesla vehicles – a system announced as Tesla Vision. According to Elon Musk, this update is a dramatic improvement over AutoPilot, the ADAS system that Musk has hyped as a self-driving solution. Interestingly, AutoPilot used radars as well, but with Tesla Vision, computer vision algorithms are trained on supercomputers including a new one which the automaker believes could be the 5th fastest in the world.

What’s interesting is that Tesla doesn’t talk much about what’s improved but rather for once, is being quite diligent in informing its users that this system is still decidedly beta software. The company notes in the release notes that come with the software update:

“Full Self-Driving is in early limited access Beta and must be used with additional caution. It may do the wrong thing at the worst time, so you must always keep your hands on the wheel and pay extra attention to the road. Do not become complacent. When Full Self-Driving is enabled your vehicle will make lane changes off-highway, select forks to follow your navigation route, navigate around other vehicles and objects, and make a left and right turn. Use Full Self-Driving in limited BETA only if you will pay constant attention to the road, and be prepared to act immediately, especially around blind corners, crossing intersections, and in narrow driving situations.“

Recently, Musk described the new interface which made its debut first on the new Tesla Model S Plaid, as the “mind of car” interface. This interface is also slated to come to the Model 3 and Y. Right now it is shipping this feature to its higher-end vehicles, the Model S and X. The company commented in the release notes describing the new feature:

“The driving visualisation has been improved to better support Full Self-Driving capabilities. When Full Self-Driving is engaged, the instrument panel will display an expanded visualisation to show additional surrounding information. The apps from the instrument panel will be temporarily dismissed and the driving speed, Autopilot availability, Autopilot set speed and detected speed limit will move to the bottom of the instrument panel.”

Right now this beta programme is still not open to all Tesla users, but instead, it counts around 2,000 users. Mind you, this number also includes a number of Tesla employees. For once, even Musk reiterates the need to always be “paranoid” while using this feature. He, however, has been saying that is a leap forward in self-driving technology, something that’s achieved through impressive on-device processing capabilities with things like the Tesla self-driving chips, algorithms being trained on supercomputers and data collected from the wealth of Tesla cars that are already on the road. Musk believes this is a scalable approach instead of a system that involves expensive hardware like LiDARs and radars and then road tests  – something which many self-driving companies are pursuing.

Despite this, Musk and his team reiterate that the FSD v9 update may do the wrong thing at the worst time. Though, the company claims that most known issues are addressed, though since it is beta software there could be unknown issues which is why people need to be careful. Many videos of the new FSD v9 update have popped up on YouTube which shows how it operates; most people have been underwhelmed.

Han Min-Hong, now 79, successfully tested his self-driving car on the roads of Seoul in 1993, a decade before Tesla was founded. Soon after that, it drove 300 kilometres (185 miles) on the most heavily-travelled expressway in South Korea.

Footage from the period shows the car barreling down a highway, with no one behind the wheel. A 386-chip-powered desktop computer, complete with a monitor and keyboard, is placed on the passenger seat. Han is sitting in the back, waving at the camera. He said:

“It felt extraordinary. The workload was very heavy, but me and my team had an enormous passion as it was something others hadn’t done yet, something that hadn’t come out in the world yet”.

Han Min-Hong in his office, Photo Credits: Taipei Times

The country was yet to become the tech powerhouse it is today and was still pursuing imitation rather than innovation.

However, Han’s projects were seen as dangerous. He was once asked how much he was paying for his life insurance. But Han was so convinced of his cars’ safety that he rarely wore a seat belt—and has never had life insurance. Even so, Han was unable to see much investment potential, the government eventually cut funding to his research.

Now, Elon Musk’s electric car firm Tesla is a $600-billion behemoth, while Han’s Chumdancha is a small company in Yongin, south of Seoul, where he and one other employee still develop specialist warning systems for autonomous vehicles.

Han commented:

Musk is a “tremendous and outstanding” person. He came up with his own, firm vision based on what others were doing, and that is really incredible.” But Han’s invention could have paved the way for South Korea to dominate the industry, he added regretfully.

Korea University describes Han as “a pioneer and hero in the global field of artificial intelligence“, who is known for developing the South’s first automotive navigation system and a mini-helicopter seen as a precursor to modern-day drones, as well as his autonomous vehicle work. He is seen in the South as a genius ahead of his time.

Han Min-Hong, Photo Credits: Taipei Times

Self-driving vehicles are a major technological battleground for today’s automakers, with technology giants like Google parent Alphabet spending billions of dollars in a market that is supposed to fuel vehicle sales. But Han insists the American firm’s current offerings are effectively comparable to his 1990s work.

“As Tesla is regarded as the best car in the world, if there is a chance, I would like to compare our technology to theirs. Of course, Tesla’s invested a lot of money in testing, so it might be much better when it comes to sophistication. But there shouldn’t be much different when it comes down to basic functionality.”

Han believes there are limits to what self-driving technology can achieve, and that true autonomy is beyond reach.