Daimler Truck delivers autonomous-ready trucks to Torc

The autonomous-ready version of the Freightliner Cascadia is being delivered for the Torc Robotics testing fleet. (Photo: Daimler Truck North America)

Daimler Truck North America has begun delivery of on-highway trucks for the autonomous testing fleet of Daimler Truck subsidiary Torc Robotics. The autonomous-ready trucks are based on the fifth-generation Freightliner Cascadia, which was introduced last year.

“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 Truck.

Daimler Truck North America has developed a scalable, powertrain-agnostic, autonomous vehicle platform equipped with redundant features for safety-critical systems, such as braking and steering, to enable SAE Level 4 autonomous driving. The autonomous-ready version of the Freightliner Cascadia includes over 1,500 engineering requirements, all translated into features, the company said, and a second set of electronically controlled systems such as an integrated power network.

Daimler Truck installs all essential compute and sensor kits during the vehicle production process, allowing Torc Robotics to seamlessly integrate its virtual driver upon delivery.

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

Torc recently announced that it has signed a leasing agreement for an autonomous hub in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, which will serve as the operational base for its autonomous testing efforts, customer freight pilots and future commercialization. In addition to existing test routes in New Mexico, Texas and Arizona, the trucks will also be tested in autonomous mode on a new lane in Texas between Laredo and Dallas, mainly on I-35.

Torc is positioning itself to scale and commercialize safe, robust autonomous truck solution on this busy freight corridor under real-world conditions, it stated. The delivery of the vehicles by Daimler Truck marks six years of successful collaboration in “advancing the future of freight,” Peter Vaughan, CEO of Torc, added.

“Fully integrating Torc’s autonomous driver with Daimler Truck’s Freightliner Cascadia platform creates an industry-first, scalable, physical-AI autonomous trucking solution,” he said. “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.”

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