Together with its independent subsidiary Torc Robotics, Daimler Truck is pushing ahead with the development of autonomous trucking in the United States.

The companies have the longest autonomous driver technology and truck OEM partnership in the industry and have been safely and reliably testing a fleet of autonomous trucks on public roads in the U.S. on a daily basis.

As a next step, Torc is now cooperating with U.S. logistics companies to further develop the real-world applications for autonomous trucking.

To that end, Torc has established the Torc Autonomous Advisory Council  with key freight industry players to incorporate deep industry insights into its development process. Council members such as Schneider, Covenant Logistics, Penske Truck Leasing, Ryder System, Inc., C.H. Robinson and Baton as well as Daimler Truck North America as OEM, will provide strategic guidance to Torc as they integrate with the freight network and tackle challenges beyond highway driving.

“We are fully committed to autonomous trucking as it can benefit everyone,” said Martin Daum, chairman of the board of management of Daimler Truck.

“It will increase safety, because systems do not get tired and do not lose attention. It will boost logistics performance by enabling trucks to run more. It will help society cope with the growing volume of freight, particularly in times of severe driver shortages,” he said.

“We see an opportunity for Daimler Truck to increase our service revenue, as well as for significant market and growth potential. For all these reasons we are developing the Level 4 autonomous-ready truck of the future.”