Daimler Trucks continues to lead the industry, and together with its independent subsidiary, Torc Robotics (Torc), it continues to advance the development of SAE Class 4 (L4) autonomous trucks equipped with critical redundant safety systems. Both companies are confident that self-driving truck technology will become a reality and commercialized by 2030.
Daimler Trucks and Torc are the first in the industry to partner with truck manufacturers and autonomous driving technology companies, and both teams already have fleets that conduct daily safe and effective tests on public U.S. roads. Today, Torc is also working with leading local logistics companies to establish the Torc Autonomous Driving Advisory Board, which aims to integrate deep industry insights into the development process of autonomous trucks and further integrate them into real-world transportation scenarios.
The committee includes Schneider, Covenant Logistics, Penske Truck Leasing, and others, with Daimler Trucks North America involved as a manufacturer to provide strategic guidance to Torc as part of its integration into the freight network and solve challenges beyond autonomous driving on highways. In collaboration with its customers, Torc will redouble its focus on specific customer needs and specific business models. In early April 2022, Torc opened a technology and software development center in Stuttgart, Germany, to further support the application of L4 self-driving truck technology.
We are fully committed to the development of L4 self-driving trucks, a technology that will benefit all parties. Electronic systems, which are not affected by factors such as fatigue and reduced concentration, can greatly improve safety; the increased running time of trucks will further improve logistics efficiency; and the growing demand for freight in society will also be absorbed, especially in times of severe driver shortages. For Daimler Trucks, this is also an important opportunity to expand service revenues, which will bring huge market potential.
The "warehouse-to-warehouse" application scenario is progressing rapidly
Three years ago, Daimler Trucks set a clear goal of commercializing L4 self-driving trucks. Technically, the company has come a long way, and self-driving trucks are moving from idea to reality. After intensive lane changes, complex parallels and other typical driving scenarios, Torc's autonomous driving software has been verified for its safe navigation capabilities on highways. Recently, Torc expanded the scope of its tests to demonstrate the power of L4 self-driving trucks in more complex scenarios. Equipped with state-of-the-art LiDAR, radar and camera technology, these trucks are capable of lighting-controlled intersections, ramps and turnoffs for advanced driving behavior.
The above functions are indispensable for warehouse-to-warehouse freight scenarios. In this scenario, the driver controls the first short-haul transport of a conventional truck, delivering the goods to a highway hub along the main freight corridor. After that, a dedicated L4 self-driving truck will automatically drive the trailer from one hub to another, safely completing long-distance transportation on the highway. Once at the destination hub, the last mile delivery is completed by a manually driven truck.
Continue to promote the development and cooperation of autonomous truck technology
Over the past few years, building on Daimler Trucks' flagship Cascadia model, Daimler Trucks' engineers have successfully developed the first scalable autonomous truck platform equipped with critical safety systems. A second critical system, such as steering and braking, was designed and developed on the truck to meet Daimler Trucks' stringent safety standards. Vehicles are able to continuously monitor and evaluate the health of critical safety systems, and in the event of system outages or errors, newly developed redundant systems can safely maneuver trucks.
The L4 Flatascadia truck demonstrates the solid foundation necessary for autonomous driving systems and is a model for the convergence of autonomous driving software, hardware and computing technologies. The redundant system design helps self-driving trucks improve traffic safety and also takes Daimler trucks one step closer to the vision of accident-free driving.
As early as 2014, Daimler launched the world's first self-driving concept truck, the Mercedes-Benz Future Truck 2025, demonstrating for the first time the technological opportunities and great potential that autonomous trucks bring to customers and society. Since then, Daimler Trucks has become the first truck manufacturer to bring partially autonomous driving (LEVEL 2) to mass production with active drive assist (for the new Mercedes-Benz Actos, Mitsubishi Fuso Super Great trucks) and the Detroit Assurance 5.0 system for Fräner Cascadia trucks.
Daimler Trucks acquired a majority stake in Torc in 2019 and founded the Autonomous Technology Group in the same year to integrate knowledge and experience in the development of autonomous driving systems worldwide. The Autonomous Driving Technologies Group is responsible for developing and implementing the overall strategy of Daimler Trucks' autonomous driving technology roadmap, including research and development, testing and validation, as well as establishing the required operational infrastructure and networks.
In order to achieve their goals faster and diversify their investment in autonomous driving technology, Daimler Trucks is also working with Waymo so that customers can choose the most suitable autonomous driving product according to their needs. In addition, Daimler Trucks has partnered with Luminar Technologies, Inc., a leading global supplier of lidar software technology, and acquired a minority stake in it.