Germany / USA - September 2020 marks a year of Daimler Trucks North America Inc of Portland, Oregon, USA (a Daimler Truck AG subsidiary) and Torc Robotics of Blacksburg, Virginia working together after the US-based automated driving technology company became part of Daimler Trucks’ Autonomous Technology Group. They are pursuing a common goal of bringing series-produced highly automated trucks (SAE Level 4) to the roads within the decade; including on-road deployment of a Level 4 test fleet, initiation of redesign of truck chassis, adoption of a hub-to-hub model, formalised rigorous testing protocols, formal truck safety driver certification process, and extended software capabilities. The Autonomous Technology Group will now extend its testing to New Mexico by building up a new testing centre in Albuquerque. Expanding to a new location will support testing and provide data for more use cases of next generation vehicles on public roads starting this autumn.

Daimler said initial public road testing on highways began in September in southwest Virginia, where Torc is headquartered. Additionally, closed-track road testing is being conducted in Madras, Oregon State at Daimler Trucks North America’s High Desert Proving Grounds. In February 2020, Daimler Trucks and Torc announced plans to expand testing of automated truck technology to additional locations, adding new public routes in the USA, but the activation was postponed due to COVID-19 pandemic.