Where is Torc located?
Our headquarters are in Blacksburg, Virginia. We also have locations in Texas, Canada, and Michigan.
Will self-driving trucks drive in cities?
Our first market-available generation of self-driving trucks will exclusively drive on highway roads and interstates. Our Torc trucks are targeting middle mile journeys, or any route over 250 miles in length. We’ve identified this as the scalable, commercially viable choice for our technology.
What is the “hub-to-hub” model?
The first application of the autonomous technology will be long-haul, the area with the greatest capacity need. We’re working on what we call a “hub-to-hub” solution.
Simply, the autonomous truck will transport goods in the middle mile, operating autonomously between two hubs or transfer terminals near highways. The automated driving system will be capable of navigating highways and surface streets without human intervention between the hubs. Initially, the first and last mile routes, within cities and towns, will still be manually driven.
How do Torc and Daimler Trucks partner on self-driving trucks?
Daimler and Torc are currently producing an autonomous-ready Freightliner Cascadia, complete with redundant chassis, steering system, braking system, low voltage power net, network communications, and more.
- Our braking system is designed with fall-back safety mechanisms in place. Featuring multiple brake controllers and a pneumatic backup, this critical piece of equipment and its redundant design ensures that the truck is able to perform its behaviors.
- Our redundant steering system has several servo motors, which allow lateral control in case of an electronic or hydraulic failure.
- Our low voltage power net not only generates the higher power necessary for our controllers, but provides continuous power to all control modules.
- And lastly, our secondary communication network provides constant communication between key systems, which are further protected by state-of-the-art cybersecurity requirements.