Outrider releases safety system for driverless yard operations

Outrider, a provider of autonomous yard operations for logistics hubs, said it has built the industry’s first safety system designed from the ground up for scalable, driverless movement of freight in mixed-traffic trailer yards.

Outrider stated that its proprietary functional safety approach was designed to align with the AV Conformity Framework (AVCF) requirements of TÜV SÜD, an independent testing and certification organization.

The company added that commissioning and deployment of the latest-generation driverless yard trucks will begin with select enterprise customers in the second half of 2025.

Artificial intelligence powers Outrider System

“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 one,” 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-pound robot that operates amongst over-the-road trucks, delivery trucks, and warehouse personnel.” 

The company said that the Outrider System utilizes state-of-the-art artificial intelligence to handle the complex task of moving trailers in mixed-traffic logistics yards with a high degree of precision, versatility and predictability.

Recognizing that even the most advanced AI-driven systems can be susceptible to unexpected failures, Outrider said it has built a comprehensive, redundant safety system designed to mitigate hazards identified in its safety case. The combination of AI and safety systems allows for unsupervised, fully automated operations.

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

Industry standard for yard automation

“Given the lack of standards for yard automation, Outrider developed the safety approach that will set the standard in the industry,” said Vittorio Ziparo, CTO and executive vice president of engineering 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.”

TÜV SÜD conducted a preliminary assessment of Outrider's functional safety approach using its 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 showcase of the FuSa (Functional Safety) workflow, TÜV SÜD determined that Outrider's functional safety approach was aligned with these requirements. Outrider said it will continue to accrue data for its body of evidence to ensure the appropriate implementation and effectiveness of the approach.

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

“Through a successful development and validation program, as well as extensive review of Outrider’s safety case, our engineering and safety teams approved the use of our commercial steering system in the Outrider System,” said Simon Malsbury, engineering director at RH Sheppard, a global supplier of steering systems for the trucking and transportation industry. “Outrider is the first yard automation provider to receive RH Sheppard’s approval to use its drive-by-wire steering system in autonomous operations in logistics yards.” 

Outrider said the completion of this safety system furthers its leadership in autonomous yard operations. Other Outrider developments in autonomous trailer movement include hitching, backing, trailer brake line connection, yard inventory tracking, as well as integration with warehouse, yard and transportation management systems.