Daimler Truck North America has begun delivering self-driving configurations of its fifth-generation Freightliner Cascadia to Torc. (Daimler Truck)
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Torc Robotics started testing its autonomous vehicles on what is anticipated to be the Daimler Truck subsidiary’s first driverless freight lane between Laredo and Dallas, the father or mother firm stated.
One of many busiest freight lanes within the U.S., the Texas route passes by way of San Antonio and Austin.
Laredo accounted for practically 40% of incoming vehicles from Mexico, in accordance with the latest Bureau of Transportation Statistics knowledge.
San Antonio and Dallas rank because the seventh and ninth largest U.S. cities by inhabitants, respectively, in accordance with the Census Bureau.
Torc’s autonomous vehicles already have been being examined on routes in New Mexico, Texas and Arizona.
The corporate lately signed a lease for an autonomous hub within the Dallas-Fort Price space that may function the operations base for its autonomous testing efforts, buyer freight pilots and future industrial endeavors.
Daimler Truck delivers newest iteration of autonomous-ready truck platform based mostly on the brand new Fifth Technology #Freightliner Cascadia with redundant security options to @torc_robotics: https://t.co/zQTzVe4TXo #DaimlerTruck #AutonomousDriving pic.twitter.com/Fd78y0nAvb
— Daimler Truck (@DaimlerTruck) April 16, 2025
Torc already had a brief workplace within the Dallas-Fort Price space however is upsizing its operations within the metropolitan space forward of the 2027 begin of absolutely driverless operations.
Alongside discovering a bigger Dallas-Fort Price workplace, the corporate plans to open an Ann Arbor, Mich., workplace earlier than the top of the second quarter, Torc stated in December.
Consequently, Torc’s unique testing location in Albuquerque, N.M., and know-how hub in Stuttgart, Germany, are being wound down.
Daimler Truck North America, in the meantime, has begun delivering self-driving configurations of the newest iteration of its flagship on-highway tractor to Torc — the fifth-generation Freightliner Cascadia.
Freightliner launched the fifth-generation Cascadia on Oct. 15 after publicly showcasing the tractor for the primary time at American Trucking Associations’ Administration Convention & Exhibition.
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Serial manufacturing of the tractor — the primary revamp in 5 years — is scheduled to start in mid-2025. Freightliner opened the order e book April 10.
The autonomous-ready configuration of the best-selling Class 8 tractor in North America is supplied with redundant security options equivalent to braking and steering, and is meant for collection manufacturing, DTNA stated.
“Delivering the newest iteration of our autonomous-ready car platform, together with production-intent autonomy {hardware} to Torc, marks a major milestone for Daimler Truck in direction of collection maturity and scaling,” stated Joanna Buttler, head of the autonomous know-how group for Daimler Truck.
In 2024, Torc accomplished driverless take a look at runs on a multilane take a look at monitor in Texas. Testing on public roads is the subsequent growth step for the corporate.
“Our sturdy collaboration with Daimler Truck represents six years of success in advancing the way forward for freight. Totally integrating Torc’s autonomous driver with Daimler Truck’s Freightliner Cascadia platform creates an industry-first, scalable, physical-AI autonomous trucking answer,” Torc CEO Peter Vaughan Schmidt stated.
“This may unlock large worth for our clients by addressing key {industry} ache factors and presents a transparent alternative to generate income and drive significant transformation throughout the {industry},” Vaughan Schmidt added.
To allow Society of Automotive Engineers Stage 4 autonomous driving, Daimler Truck constructed redundancy into the Cascadia platform for safety-critical programs for secure, driverless operations, Torc stated.
Security at Torc will now be overseen by Steve Kenner. The corporate on April 17 introduced Kenner as the corporate’s chief security officer. He’ll report back to Vaughan Schmidt.
Kenner most lately served as chief security officer at Common Motors’ self-driving passenger car unit Cruise. Previous to that, Kenner labored for Ford, Apple and Locomation, an autonomous trucking firm that was wound down in 2023 on account of money circulation issues.
“Steve’s spectacular profession trajectory and dedication to security make him the perfect candidate to guide Torc’s security, regulatory, compliance and authorities affairs efforts,” stated Schmidt.
“His deep experience and management within the automotive {industry} shall be instrumental in advancing our mission to commercialize autonomous vehicles and make sure the highest requirements of security and regulatory compliance,” he added.
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