Commercializing AV/EV Distribution Yards: Automating Logistics w/ Tom Baroch of Outrider

12/14/23 • 19 min

Stephan is joined by Tom Baroch, Sr. Director of Global Partnerships at Outrider to discuss the commercializing of AV/EV distribution yards and automating logistics.

The distribution yard is a crucial link in the supply chain, serving as a transition point between warehouses and the open road for over 20 billion tons of freight annually. However, inefficiencies and unsafe manual tasks in these yards have led to bottlenecks in the supply chain. Over the past three years, these inefficiencies have led to diesel trucks idling in the yard, waiting for trucks or trailers, causing delays of up to four hours.

Yard trucks contribute significantly to the global carbon footprint, emitting 3.8 million tons of carbon dioxide. The future of yard operations is autonomous and electric, eliminating manual tasks for greater efficiency and safety. The private, confined space of yard operations is ideal for autonomy. Commercializing heavy-duty trucks with EV technology is a great place to start, reducing emissions and supporting the adoption of sustainable freight transportation. This aligns with forward-looking enterprises aiming to reduce emissions by having all-electric fleets in the next 10-20 years.

Automating a yard involves more than just an autonomous truck. Outrider's product is a comprehensive system that addresses operational challenges for customers. It includes a mission control dashboard allowing customers to control trucks and moves within their yards. The dashboard has an API that integrates with the customer's yard management system, directing trucks and trailers accordingly. They also handle deployment, infrastructure, and dock doors, making it a complete turnkey solution. Our focus on automation makes our product a winning solution.

The focus is on the system's overall throughput for the whole yard, not the speed of the trucks. The truck uses cameras and LiDARS to scan and geo-locate trailers, increasing efficiency continuously. The goal is to improve the total throughput of the yard, which can be operated with fewer yard trucks and with more accurate, safe, and efficient manual operations.

Tom Baroch is the Sr. Director of Global Partnerships at Outrider. He's responsible for designing, building and leading Outrider's supply chain and partnership ecosystem. Prior to Outrider, Tom spent over a decade developing and scaling supply chains that make mobility safer and cleaner at Bosch, Tesla and Waymo.

Outrider, the leader in autonomous yard operations for logistics hubs, helps large enterprises improve safety and increase efficiency. The only company exclusively focused on automating all aspects of yard operations, Outrider works with logistics-dependent enterprises to eliminate manual tasks that are hazardous and repetitive. Outrider’s mission is to drive the rapid adoption of sustainable freight transportation by deploying zero-emission systems. With its customers representing over 20 percent of all yard trucks operating in North America, Outrider is a private company backed by NEA, 8VC, Koch

If you would like to be a guest on the show contact: [email protected]

Stephan is joined by Tom Baroch, Sr. Director of Global Partnerships at Outrider to discuss the commercializing of AV/EV distribution yards and automating logistics.

If you would like to be a guest on the show contact: [email protected]

Previous Episode

Bridging the Gap Between Consumer Electronics and the Automotive Industry w/ Thomas Bock of Porsche Digital

OEMs can differentiate themselves from competitors by customizing technologies like Android Auto or Apple CarPlay to their needs and brand image; making it easy for customers to access and use these services is a differentiator. Building a platform on top of Apple or Google's technologies is a good option, but it requires much effort and resources. OEMs invest in making it a customer choice by providing onboard systems that can use CarPlay or Android Auto to help customers switch to connected services. The ease of access to these technologies allows OEMs to differentiate themselves.

The automotive industry needs to focus on updated ability and flexible software. This includes bridging the gap between consumer electronics and the automotive industry. However, upgrading hardware without adding complexity to the overall system is challenging. It isn't easy to achieve a universal platform across the industry.
Thomas Bock is the Sr. Engineering Manager at Porsche Digital Inc. where he guides engineering teams building Porsche’s next- generation digital products. Recently his team has launched two products: Apple® Maps EV Routing and My Porsche in Apple CarPlay®

Previously, Bock was the Director of Vehicle Integration & Testing at Samsung Smart Machines, a part of Samsung Electronics, that developed a full-stack SoC- based ADAS platform solution for Tier1s and OEMs. He led teams responsible for the integration of the platform into the development & test vehicles, the data collection software and data collection operation as well as the validation and verification of the platform through Software-in-the-Loop (SiL), Hardware-in-the-Loop (HiL) to Vehicle-in-the-loop (ViL) testing. In addition, he contributed to the SAE/DIN spec. 91381 as well as to a handful of SAE EDGETM Research Reports about automated driving simulation & testing, HD Maps, and In-Vehicle User experience.

Bock has 20+ years of experience within the automotive industry. Prior to joining Samsung and Porsche, he worked at Mercedes-Benz Research & Development North America (1998-2018) where he contributed on the original Mercedes prototype for Internet in the vehicle, wireless communication for safety and infotainment (early DSRC), connected navigation, first iPod integration and multiple telematics concepts for show cars.

Bock was part of the team that developed the Mercedes-Benz Apps and launched them as a product in 2011. In the years following the launch, he worked on expanding the services and bringing them to all carlines and markets. From 2014 on he worked on the specification and pre-development of HD Maps and Localization for the Level 3 Highway Chauffeur Mercedes product, that was successfully handed over for development to the engineering group in Germany and is now in current S-Class as Drive Pilot product. After that, he worked on the Daimler/ Bosch project for “Urban Automated Driving” where he led the team on HD Maps and services for Level 4 Automated Driving.

Bock is originally from Germany and earned his Dipl.-Ing. (U.S. equivalent - Master of Science) in Computer Science & Electrical Engineering from University of Siegen, Germany.

· Company -> https://www.porsche.digital/

If you would like to be a guest on the show contact: [email protected]

Next Episode

AI Data Tool Suite for Annotation, Calibration & Validation w/ Mohammad Musa

In this episode Stephan is joined by Mohammad Musa Founder and CEO of Deepen. Deepen provides the only safety-first full AI data tool suite for annotation, calibration & validation.

Data adaptation is a crucial aspect of transforming sensor suites, enabling the interpretation and validation of data from various camera types and thermal sensors. The precision of this data adaptation is achieved through fine-grained pixel-level accuracy, allowing for multi-modal ability in light, camera, and radar over time.

Balancing automation and human involvement is crucial for ensuring accurate results and minimizing mistakes. Considering economics while balancing automation and human input is essential to avoid potential errors.

Automated quality checks and validation processes analyze AI and human actions across multiple runs, using heuristics and signals to create a workflow for productive labeling operations.

To ensure return on investment, customers should ensure solid data collection and calibration, avoid garbage-in and garbage-out scenarios, and collect data that aligns with the vehicle's operation.

Mohammad Musa started Deepen AI in January 2017 focusing on AI tools and infrastructure for the Autonomous Development & Robotics industries. Prior to Deepen, Mohammad was the head of Launch & Readiness at Google Apps for Work where he led a cross functional team managing product launches, product roadmap, trusted tester and launch communications. Before Google, Mohammad worked in software engineering and technical sales positions in the video games and semiconductor industries in multiple startups.

Deepen

Multi-sensor data labelling and calibration tools and services to accelerate computer vision training for autonomous vehicles, robotics and more.

Labelling accuracy, delivered fast with our in-house team

Special multi-sensor calibration bundle

Customizable solutions to suit your needs

The only safety-first full AI data tool suite for annotation, calibration & validation.

If you would like to be a guest on the show contact: [email protected]

AVL's Reimagine Mobility Podcast - Commercializing AV/EV Distribution Yards: Automating Logistics w/ Tom Baroch of Outrider

Transcript

00:00:01.790

Welcome, everyone to the Reimagine Mobility Podcast series. I'm here with Tom Baroch Tom, thanks for joining us. Tom, you're the senior director of global partnerships at Outrider Company. Maybe some of us listening and viewing this haven't heard about so tell me a little bit about your background about the company. And let's jump in how we work together, how specifically you view the future of mobility and how you reimagine mobility. Thanks a lot, Stephan, for having