Daimler Truck and Torc: Milestone in Automation

STUTTGART, Ger. / PORTLAND, Ore. – Daimler Truck North America has started delivering its latest flagship on-highway trucks to the autonomous testing fleet of Torc Robotics. 

“Delivering the latest iteration of our autonomous-ready vehicle platform, including production-intent autonomy hardware to Torc marks a significant milestone for Daimler Truck towards series maturity and scaling,” said Joanna Buttler, head of autonomous technology group at Daimler. 

The trucks are based on the recently unveiled Fifth Generation Freightliner Cascadia, which was introduced last year. 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. 

An Industry First 

According to the release Daimler was the first in the industry to develop a scalable, powertrain-agnostic, redundant autonomous vehicle platform. To enable SAE Level 4 autonomous driving, the company has purposefully designed and built redundancy into the Freightliner Cascadia platform for safety-critical systems for safe, driverless operations. With over 1,500 engineering requirements, all translated into features, and a second set of electronically controlled systems like an integrated power network, the autonomous-ready Cascadia sets an industry standard for autonomous systems integration. 

“The new generation of the industry’s best-selling Class 8 truck in the North American market redefines benchmarks in safety, efficiency, and profitability,” Daimler said. “In addition to key features for increased aerodynamics and more business efficiency, the new truck offers expanded capabilities for the Detroit Assurance Suite of Safety Systems, an all-new Intelligent Braking Control System as well as Dual Stage Intelligent LED Headlights. 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. Daimler Truck North America installs all essential compute and sensor kits during the vehicle production process. This preparation allows Torc Robotics to seamlessly integrate their virtual driver upon delivery.” 

Deployed on one of America’s Busiest Freight Lanes between Laredo and Dallas  

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. 

There is significant freight volume moving between Laredo and Dallas, connecting major cities like San Antonio and Austin. Torc recently announced that it has signed a leasing agreement for an autonomous hub in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. This hub will serve as the operational base for its autonomous testing efforts, customer freight pilots, and future commercialization. Torc is driving toward productization, positioning itself to scale and commercialize safe, robust autonomous trucking solutions on this busy freight corridor under real-world conditions. 

In 2024, Torc reached another milestone by successfully completing driver-out test runs on a multi-lane test track in Texas. As a next step, Daimler Truck and Torc will further develop autonomous trucks to safely achieve the driver-out capability on public roads. 

“Our strong collaboration with Daimler Truck represents six years of success in advancing the future of freight,” said Peter Vaughan Schmidt, CEO of Torc. “Fully integrating Torc’s autonomous driver with Daimler Truck’s Freightliner Cascadia platform creates an industry-first, scalable, physical-AI autonomous trucking solution. This will unlock tremendous value for our customers by addressing key industry pain points and presents a clear opportunity to generate revenue and drive meaningful transformation across the industry.” 

Market Entry Planned for 2027 

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. 

“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,” Daimler said. “Daimler Truck has highlighted the highly scalable and profitable market opportunities that autonomous driving is expected to offer.” 

Dana Guthrie is an award-winning journalist who has been featured in multiple newspapers, books and magazines across the globe. She is currently based in the Atlanta, Georgia, area.

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