DEPLOYDatabase

Robot model

Heron / DriveHeron

avpilotby Turing

Turing's multimodal AI foundation model for autonomous driving.

Track Heron / DriveHeron
Manufacturer
Turing
Form factor
av
Maturity
pilot
Lifecycle
active
Deployments
1
Website
tur.ing ↗

The verified answer

As of Oct 2026, DEPLOY verifies Heron / DriveHeron, a av by Turing (pilot): 1 verified deployment on record. 1 source back the record.

Overview

Turing's multimodal AI foundation model for autonomous driving. DriveHeron is a Vision-Language-Action (VLA) model with ~2 billion parameters that integrates camera data with language-based contextual understanding to predict and execute steering, acceleration, and braking. Achieved real-time autonomous driving on public roads at 10 Hz in March 2026, a first in Japan.

Verified vs. claimed

Maturity stage
pilot(Small-scale deployment in controlled or trial conditions.)
Sources on file
View all sources →

Key facts

Form Factor

av

Maturity

pilot

VLA size and control rate

Turing said on 26 March 2026 that its on-vehicle VLA has about 2 billion parameters and ran real-time inference and control at 10 Hz on public roads, which it called a Japan first based on its own March 2026 research (Turing).

RACER and DriveTiTok releases

The same post says Turing released the RACER causal-reasoning driving dataset and DriveTiTok, an image tokenizer that compresses driving video to about one-hundredth of its size, with a portion of the data and models on Hugging Face (Turing).

Data & sources

Press releases

1

1 source backing this record.View all →

Pricing

No verified price is on record for Heron / DriveHeron. Physical-AI systems are often sold through enterprise contracts or operated as a service rather than at a public list price.

How DEPLOY tracks pricing

Deployments (1)

Free to use on your site, with a link back to DEPLOY.

Heron / DriveHeron on the deployment map

View the global map

Where Heron / DriveHeron is verified operating. Explore the deployment map by place and type.

Free to use on your site, with a link back to DEPLOY.

Recent activity

Every change to this record is dated, sourced, and independently verified where marked.

Full change history →

Components (1)

Components carry componentClass + safetyCritical flag. ModelComponent rows carry safety_role (primary_safety / backup_safety / monitoring / non_safety) + optional supplier identity.

Safety record

No incidents on record for Heron / DriveHeron.

Only active incidents are counted. Retracted incidents are excluded from this summary but remain reachable at their canonical URLs.

Sources (1)

  1. Turing Achieves Japan's First Real-Time Autonomous Driving Using VLA Model · https://tur.ing/en/news/20260326/

Common questions

What is Heron / DriveHeron?
Turing's multimodal AI foundation model for autonomous driving. DriveHeron is a Vision-Language-Action (VLA) model with ~2 billion parameters that integrates camera data with language-based contextual understanding to predict and execute steering, acceleration, and braking. Achieved real-time autonomous driving on public roads at 10 Hz in March 2026, a first in Japan.
How much does Heron / DriveHeron cost?
Heron / DriveHeron's price is not publicly disclosed. DEPLOY has no verified price on record for Heron / DriveHeron from Turing. Physical-AI systems like this are often sold through enterprise contracts or operated as a service rather than at a public list price; check the manufacturer for the latest.
Is Heron / DriveHeron actually deployed in the real world?
Yes. Heron / DriveHeron is independently verified in real-world operation on the DEPLOY registry, confirmed at named deployment sites with primary sources: not a concept, render, or demo-only.
Who makes Heron / DriveHeron?
Heron / DriveHeron is made by Turing, based in Tokyo, Japan, founded in 2021.
Where is Heron / DriveHeron deployed?
1 verified deployment of Heron / DriveHeron is on the DEPLOY registry, including at Higashi-Shinjuku Substation, Tokyo, Japan.
Can you buy Heron / DriveHeron?
Heron / DriveHeron is in pilot deployments with named customers and is not yet broadly for sale.
What are alternatives to Heron / DriveHeron?
On the DEPLOY registry, comparable av robots to Heron / DriveHeron include Waymo Driver (6th gen), Zoox Robotaxi, Tesla Robotaxi (Model Y ADS), May Mobility Autonomous Sienna.
How does Heron / DriveHeron compare to Waymo Driver (6th gen)?
Heron / DriveHeron and Waymo Driver (6th gen) (Waymo · 52 deployments) are both av robots on the DEPLOY registry. Heron / DriveHeron has 1 verified deployment on record. Compare both records for specs, safety, deployments, and verified-vs-claimed autonomy.
Is Heron / DriveHeron a top av?
On DEPLOY's intelligence score, which blends verified deployments, safety, adoption, media, and IP signals, Heron / DriveHeron ranks in roughly the top 31% of av models tracked by the registry.
What is Heron / DriveHeron's maturity stage?
Heron / DriveHeron is at the pilot stage on the DEPLOY maturity ladder (research, prototype, pilot, commercial, production). Pilot stage means at least one named-customer trial deployment is verified.
Is Heron / DriveHeron safe?
Heron / DriveHeron has no incidents on record in the DEPLOY registry. This does not constitute a safety guarantee; it reflects the incidents DEPLOY has tracked and verified to date.
Methodology: Verified · 1 source (1 primary) · last reviewed 2026-10-03

Verification posture

Verified

High confidence

Review state

Stable

Last reviewed 2026-10-03

Maturity + lifecycle

Maturity stage: pilot

Lifecycle: active

Architectural position

Cohort: av

Sources by quality tier

1
primary-company-ir
Company IR disclosure

The framework is documented at /methodology. Corrections at /corrections. Reviewer: DEPLOY editorial team.

Methodology surface for Heron / DriveHeron.

Runs on

Chip integration for Heron / DriveHeron sourced from public claims. See every AI chip on record for the full catalog.