Autonomous driving, Daimler Truck and Torc get closer to serial production in the U.S.
In order to enable SAE Level 4 autonomous driving, Daimler Truck has purposefully designed and built redundancy into the Freightliner Cascadia platform for safety-critical systems for safe, driverless operations. Daimler Truck and Torc aim to enter the U.S. market with SAE Level 4 autonomous trucks by 2027.
Daimler Truck North America has started delivering its latest flagship on-highway trucks to the autonomous testing fleet of Torc Robotics, a subsidiary of Daimler Truck. These trucks are based on the recently unveiled Fifth Generation Freightliner Cascadia, which was introduced last year. Indeed, the newest version of the Freightliner’s on-highway truck also delivers a greater than 35 percent fuel economy improvement since the model’s first introduction in 2007.
Torc’s autonomous driving development
The autonomous-ready version of the new Freightliner flagship is equipped with redundant safety features like braking and steering and is intended for series production. Now, in addition to existing test routes in New Mexico, Texas, and Arizona, these trucks will also be tested in autonomous mode on a new lane in Texas between Laredo and Dallas mainly on I-35.
In order to enable SAE Level 4 autonomous driving, Daimler Truck has purposefully designed and built redundancy into the Freightliner Cascadia platform for safety-critical systems for safe, driverless operations. Daimler Truck and Torc aim to enter the U.S. market with SAE Level 4 autonomous trucks by 2027. In this application, the autonomous driving system takes over the entire dynamic driving task between two freight hubs.
According to the partners, autonomous trucks can enhance business operations and manage increasing freight volumes, especially during driver shortages. They also have the potential to reduce accidents, as the system remains alert and never tires.
