Daimler ramps up self-driving truck efforts, launches global autonomous group

The Society of Automotive Engineers has assigned six levels of automation, from Level 0 where the human does all of the driving, up to Level 5, where the vehicle can handle all of the driving tasks without human intervention.

“The main tasks of the new unit comprise overall strategy and implementation of the automated driving roadmap, including research and development, as well as setting up the required operations infrastructure and network, heading toward the series production of highly automated trucks,” Daimler said in the release.

Daimler Trucks announced in late March that it was buying a majority stake in Torc Robotics, another play in the company’s efforts to expand its presence in autonomous technology. Headquartered in Blacksburg, Virginia, Torc has developed Level 4 self-driving technology that will be equipped on Daimler trucks, pending approval of the acquisition.

Daimler announced its investment of over $570 million toward its efforts to develop Level 4 trucks in January at the Consumer Electronics Show [CES] in Las Vegas, Nevada.

The largest truck maker debuted its 2020 Freightliner Cascadia, equipped with Level 2 autonomous driving technology, at CES. Level 2 automation means the advanced driver assistance system (ADAS) on the vehicle can assist the driver with steering, braking and acceleration. The new Cascadia is the first Level 2 truck to enter series production in North America.

“We’re fully committed to demonstrating the enormous advantages of highly automated driving first here in the U.S.A.,” said Roger Nielsen, chief executive of Daimler Trucks North America.

Daimler was the first to hit the highways with a partially autonomous commercial vehicle, the Freightliner Inspiration truck, back in 2015. However, the German company is facing stiff competition as other self-driving trucking companies are ramping up their autonomous vehicle road tests.

Self-driving truck startup TuSimple announced recently that the United States Postal Service (USPS) has awarded it a contract to perform five round trips, for a two-week pilot, hauling the agency’s trailers more than 1,000 miles between its distribution centers in Phoenix, Arizona and Dallas, Texas.

The pilot marks the first time a U.S. government agency fleet has publicly announced road tests with a Level 4 autonomous system, said Robert Brown, TuSimple’s director for public affairs.

Starsky Robotics is also pushing forward with its autonomous truck technology. The self-driving truck startup completed a series of road tests, with a driver behind the wheel, on a section of the Lee Roy Selmon Expressway near Tampa, Florida, in mid-May.

Starsky completed a 7-mile driverless trip in February 2018 in Florida and is gearing up a second trip sometime later this year, Stefan Seltz-Axmacher, chief executive and co-founder of Starsky Robotics, told FreightWaves.

Martin Daum, global head of Daimler Trucks and Buses, said the company is taking the next step toward Level 4 automation with the formation of its new autonomous group.

“With the new unit, we will maximize the effectiveness of our automated driving efforts and the impact of our investments in this key strategic technology,” he said. “We will therefore be in the perfect position to put highly automated driving onto the roads, making transportation safer, saving lives and helping trucking companies boost their productivity.”