Outrider designs safety system for autonomous yard trucks

Outrider said its system addresses more than 200,000 hazards. Source: Outrider

Outrider Technologies Inc. today announced that it has designed a safety system from the ground up for scalable, driverless movement of freight in mixed-traffic trailer yards.

“Outrider pioneered the yard automation space with the goal of making autonomous yard operations inherently safer than present-day operations, and we have prioritized the safety system from Day 1,” said Andrew Smith, founder and CEO of Outrider. “It is not hard to create a driverless demonstration. It is a major technical undertaking to design an 80,000-lb. [36,287.3 kg] robot that operates amongst over-the-road trucks, delivery trucks, and warehouse personnel.”

Outrider automates yard operations for logistics hubs to help large enterprises improve safety and increase efficiency. The Brighton, Colo.-based company said it works with enterprises to eliminate hazardous and repetitive manual tasks.

Outrider builds safety with redundancy, AI

Even the most advanced systems can be susceptible to unexpected failures, so Outrider built a comprehensive, redundant safety system to mitigate hazards identified in its safety case. Using artificial intelligence, the Outrider System handles the complex task of moving trailers in mixed-traffic logistics yards with a high degree of precision, versatility, and predictability, the company claimed.

Outrider said its system includes 14 safety mechanisms that address more than 200,000 hazards specific to yard operations. It uses these safety mechanisms, including redundant hazard detection, fail-safe hardware redundancies, and real-time health monitoring, to detect anomalies in the environment, override unsafe behaviors, and bring the autonomous vehicle to a stop when necessary.

“Given the lack of standards for yard automation, Outrider developed the safety approach that will set the standard in the industry,” said Vittorio Ziparo, executive vice president of engineering and chief technology officer at Outrider. “We used established standards for functional safety in road vehicles outlined in ISO 26262 and safety in autonomous vehicles outlined in ISO 21448, as the starting point for a proprietary and comprehensive safety approach for autonomous yard operations.”

The company said the combination of AI and safety system allows for unsupervised, fully automated operations. RH Sheppard has approved its drive-by-wire steering system for use in its yards. Outrider plans to begin deploying its latest-generation driverless yard trucks with select enterprise customers in the second half of 2025.

TÜV SÜD validates safety approach

Outrider added that its proprietary functional safety approach aligns with TÜV SÜD’s Autonomous Vehicle Conformity Framework (AVCF) requirements. TÜV SÜD is a globally recognized independent testing and certification organization.

TÜV SÜD conducted a preliminary assessment of Outrider’s functional safety approach using AVCF. This framework, based on current industry standards and best practices, evaluated essential elements such as Hazard Analysis and Risk Assessment (HARA), coverage and safety analysis, testing, and the safety case.

Through a methodological study of the FuSa (Functional Safety) workflow, TÜV SÜD determined that Outrider’s functional safety approach aligns with its requirements. Outrider said it is continuing to gather to ensure the appropriate implementation and effectiveness of the approach.

Outrider said this assessment marks a key milestone, confirming that it meets the requirements of ISO 26262 and aligns with current state-of-the-art practices. It added that the approach establishes a robust foundation for integrating with other safety domains, including ISO 21448’s Safety of the Intended Functionality (SOTIF) and cybersecurity.

Outrider is taking orders for next year

The Outrider System can connect trailer brake and electric lines with no modifications to trailers using its TrailerConnect robotic arm. It can also integrate with auto-coupling systems designed for captive trailer fleets.

The system runs on top of autonomy hardware and electric yard truck platforms from vendors including NVIDIA, Orange EV, RH Sheppard, and Yaskawa. For safety-critical systems and components, Outrider said its development team works closely with its partners to review and approve the safety case for using their products in driverless operations.

In addition to driverless operations with select customers in 2025, Outrider is taking orders for deployments in 2026 and 2027. The company offers the system as a subscription service, including the autonomy stack, cloud-based management software, automated trailer inventory tracking, and 24/7 support.

Earlier this year, it deployed advanced reinforcement learning (RL) techniques to maximize freight throughput at customer sites. The company claimed that its RL models can increase path-planning speed by 10x and enable the Outrider System to move freight more efficiently and safely through busy, complex distribution yards.

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