Daimler Trucks recently announced it launched the Autonomous Technology Group, a global organization for exploring the strategy and implementation of the automated driving.
The group, which launches Saturday, will conduct research and development and set up the autonomous infrastructure and network with the goal of producing a series of highly automated trucks.
Daimler Trucks is investing $570 million in the hopes of putting automated trucks onto the roads within a decade. The trucks would be level 4, a higher level of automation than the level 2 trucks that are already on the road.
“This new global organization will enable us to even stronger evolve the technology for highly automated driving and vehicle integration for heavy-duty trucks at our Automated Truck Research & Development Center in Portland,” Roger Nielsen, CEO of Daimler Trucks North America, said. “We’re fully committed to demonstrating the enormous advantages of highly automated driving first here in the USA.”
The group will work with experts worldwide on automated-vehicle technology and software development. Group member Torc Robotics will be tasked with developing reliable and safe truck hardware.
Daimler Trucks demonstrated its first automated truck in 2014 and obtained a road license for a partially automated commercial vehicle the following year.