TuSimple, an autonomous truck startup, on Tuesday expanded its partnership with chipmaker Nvidia to design and develop an advanced autonomous domain controller – ADC – for TuSimple's Level 4 autonomous trucking applications.

"A high-performance, production-ready ADC is a critical piece to scaling our autonomous freight network, and we are taking a hands-on role to advance its development with the help of Nvidia," said Cheng Lu, president and CEO of TuSimple.

"We believe this move provides us a significant competitive advantage in speeding time to market and further extending our industry leadership position."

The ADC is expected to handle both the requirements and powerful computational needs of TuSimple's autonomous driving system.

TuSimple will leverage its proficiency in developing an advanced Level 4 autonomous driving system for semi-trucks, while Nvidia will contribute its hardware and AI expertise.

TuSimple has successfully completed the world's first fully autonomous semi-truck run on open public roads without a human in the vehicle and without human intervention in the United States.

Founded in 2015, TuSimple is developing a commercial-ready, fully autonomous driving solution for long-haul heavy-duty trucks.