Autonomous Freightliner eCascadia completes driving test
As previously reported, the truck is based on the North American series model of the battery-electric Freightliner eCascadia, and the autonomous driving software was developed by Torc Robotics. By completing a route in a multi-lane closed course environment in Texas, USA, at speeds of up to 65 mph (about 105 kph), the young company has shown that, in its own words, “prepares the company to be able to scale and commercialize safe, robust autonomous trucking solutions by 2027.”
“This is a key moment in our mission to build a profitable, scalable business as the world’s leading autonomous solution,” commented Torc CEO Peter Vaughan Schmidt. “We observed impressive reliability in our repeated driverless runs, which leveraged Torc’s unparalleled embedded and integrated platform on Daimler Truck’s Freightliner Cascadia. We look forward to unlocking the full value of autonomous driving software for customers who prioritize safety, operations costs, ease of use and reliability.”
“The autonomous-ready Freightliner Cascadia with redundant safety features is an industry-first and lays the foundation for autonomous driving. Achieving driver-out capability on closed course is an outstanding achievement of the Torc and Daimler Truck teams,” added Joanna Buttler, Head of Autonomous Technology Group at Daimler Truck. “It demonstrates the progress and integrated development toward making autonomous trucking at scale a reality.”
Torc began autonomous driving tests of the diesel-powered Cascadia on public roads in Albuquerque, Texas, in 2021. It has been trialling the autonomous Freightliner Cascadia truck in real-life applications with selected logistics companies such as Schneider and C.R. England for a year now. The customers’ freight is transported autonomously on the test route between Phoenix, Arizona, and Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
Earlier this year, Torc integrated sensors and computer hardware in the battery-electric version of the Freightliner for the first time. Daimler Truck wants to bring autonomous trucks to the US market by 2027.
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