Daimler Truck’s Autonomous-Ready Fifth Generation Freightliner Cascadia Hits Texas Roads With Torc

This news is released jointly with Daimler Truck. The original can be found at www.daimlertruck.com.

• Daimler Truck delivers latest iteration of autonomous-ready truck platform based on the new Fifth Generation Freightliner Cascadia with redundant safety features to Torc
• Torc, a subsidiary of Daimler Truck, enters productization phase to prepare for commercial release.
• In addition to existing 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.
• Joanna Buttler, Head of Autonomous Technology Group at Daimler Truck, stated: “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.”
• Peter Vaughan Schmidt, CEO of Torc, said: “Our strong collaboration with Daimler Truck represents six years of success in advancing the future of freight. Fully integrating Torc’s autonomous driver with Daimler Truck’s Freightliner Cascadia platform creates an industry-first, scalable, physical-AI autonomous trucking solution. 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.”

Stuttgart, Germany / Portland, USA – Daimler Truck North America has started delivering its latest flagship on-highway trucks to the autonomous testing fleet of Torc Robotics, a subsidiary of Daimler Truck. These trucks are based on the recently unveiled Fifth Generation Freightliner Cascadia, which was introduced last year. The autonomous-ready version of the new Freightliner flagship is equipped with redundant safety features like braking and steering and is intended for series production.

Joanna Buttler, Head of Autonomous Technology Group at Daimler Truck, stated: “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.”

Daimler Truck North America was the first in the industry to develop a scalable, powertrain agnostic, redundant autonomous vehicle platform. To enable SAE Level 4 autonomous driving, the company has purposefully designed and built redundancy into the Freightliner Cascadia platform for safety-critical systems for safe, driverless operations. With over 1,500 engineering requirements, all translated into features, and a second set of electronically controlled systems like an integrated power network, the autonomous-ready Cascadia sets an industry standard for autonomous systems integration.

The new generation of the industry’s best-selling Class 8 truck in the North American market redefines benchmarks in safety, efficiency, and profitability. In addition to key features for increased aerodynamics and more business efficiency, the new truck offers expanded capabilities for the Detroit Assurance Suite of Safety Systems, an all-new Intelligent Braking Control System as well as Dual Stage Intelligent LED Headlights. The newest version of the Freightliner’s on-highway truck also delivers a greater than 35 percent fuel economy improvement since the model’s first introduction in 2007. Daimler Truck North America installs all essential compute and sensor kits during the vehicle production process. This preparation allows Torc Robotics to seamlessly integrate their virtual driver upon delivery.

Deployed on one of America’s busiest freight lanes between Laredo and Dallas

In addition to existing test routes in New Mexico, Texas, and Arizona, these trucks will also be tested in autonomous mode on a new lane in Texas between Laredo and Dallas mainly on I- 35.

There is significant freight volume moving between Laredo and Dallas, connecting major cities like San Antonio and Austin. Torc recently announced that it has signed a leasing agreement for an autonomous hub in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. This hub will serve as the operational base for its autonomous testing efforts, customer freight pilots, and future commercialization. Torc is driving toward productization, positioning itself to scale and commercialize safe, robust autonomous trucking solutions on this busy freight corridor under real-world conditions.

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

Peter Vaughan Schmidt, CEO of Torc, said: “Our strong collaboration with Daimler Truck represents six years of success in advancing the future of freight. Fully integrating Torc’s autonomous driver with Daimler Truck’s Freightliner Cascadia platform creates an industryfirst, scalable, physical-AI autonomous trucking solution. 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.”

Market entry planned for 2027

Daimler Truck and Torc aim to enter the U.S. market with SAE Level 4 autonomous trucks by 2027. In this application, the autonomous driving system takes over the entire dynamic driving task between two freight hubs.

Autonomous trucks can enhance business operations and manage increasing freight volumes, especially during driver shortages. They also have the potential to reduce accidents, as the system remains alert and never tires. Daimler Truck has highlighted the highly scalable and profitable market opportunities that autonomous driving is expected to offer.

Read more at www.daimlertruck.com.

Contact Daimler Truck:

Anja Weinert, +1 669 6001478, anja.weinert@daimlertruck.com

Paul Mandaiker, +49 176 30 999 267, paul.mandaiker@daimlertruck.com

Contact Torc:

Laura Lawton, +1 408 505 5820, laura.lawton@torc.ai

Forward-looking statements

This document contains forward-looking statements that reflect our current views about future events. The words “aim”, “ambition”, “anticipate”, “assume”, “believe”, “estimate”, “expect”, “intend”, “may”, ”can”, “could”, “plan”, “project”, “should” and similar expressions are used to identify forward-looking statements. These statements are subject to many risks and uncertainties, including an adverse development of global economic conditions, in particular a decline of demand in our most important markets; a deterioration of our refinancing possibilities on the credit and financial markets; events of force majeure including natural disasters, pandemics, acts of terrorism, political unrest, armed conflicts, industrial accidents and their effects on our sales, purchasing, production or financial services activities; changes in currency exchange rates, customs and foreign trade provisions; a shift in consumer preferences; a possible lack of acceptance of our products or services which limits our ability to achieve prices and adequately utilize our production capacities; price increases for fuel or raw materials; disruption of production due to shortages of materials, labor strikes or supplier insolvencies; a decline in resale prices of used vehicles; the effective implementation of cost-reduction and efficiency-optimization measures; the business outlook for companies in which we hold a significant equity interest; the successful implementation of strategic cooperations and joint ventures; changes in laws, regulations and government policies, particularly those relating to vehicle emissions, fuel economy and safety; the resolution of pending government investigations or of investigations requested by governments and the conclusion of pending or threatened future legal proceedings; and other risks and uncertainties, some of which are described under the heading “Risk and Opportunity Report” in the current Annual Report. If any of these risks and uncertainties materializes, or if the assumptions underlying any of our forward-looking statements prove to be incorrect, the actual results may be materially different from those we express or imply by such statements. We do not intend or assume any obligation to update these forward-looking statements since they are based solely on the circumstances at the date of publication.