Torc Robotics and Daimler Truck AG enter their fourth year of partnership, with a focus on customers, industry collaboration, and commercializing Level 4 autonomous trucks in the U.S. for long-haul applications. The powerhouse team continues to develop safe, sustained innovation in the freight industry as they combine Daimler Truck's extensive experience in manufacturing and relationships in the freight industry with Torc's experience in developing autonomous vehicle solutions. Since Daimler Truck's majority share investment in Torc in 2019, the two have worked hand-in-hand to be the first to commercialize a profitable autonomous truck solution at scale. Torc continues to operate as an independent subsidiary and serves as the lead for autonomous driving system development, innovation, and fleet testing. "Bringing a safe Level 4 autonomous truck to market is by no means a simple task. Over the past three years, we have benefited from the strong collaboration with Daimler Truck, bringing us significantly closer to our goal of developing a highly optimized self-driving truck that will meet the fleets' needs for cost, safety, and performance. The teamwork shown has been outstanding so far and we're entering our fourth year of partnership with a clear roadmap – focusing on one manufacturer and one initial use case in one geographic area," said Peter Vaughan Schmidt, Torc CEO.

Torc Robotics and Daimler Truck kick off their third year of partnership poised to commercialize the first scalable, profitable Level 4 autonomous truck that will help fleets improve their operations while bolstering the backbone of the U.S. economy. Torc is currently testing the Level 4 trucks on public roads in Virginia, New Mexico, and Texas, with continued route expansion in the works. The two companies are pursuing a focused, safety-oriented approach to market that also seeks to build trust among fleets and the drivers of vehicles who will share the road. Introducing a world-changing technology into an existing infrastructure, where human drivers will share the road with automated trucks, requires credibility and responsibility, according to Dr. Peter Vaughan Schmidt, Head of Daimler Truck's Autonomous Technology Group. "As the inventor of the truck, Daimler Truck has many decades of experience in testing and validation of commercial vehicles. Nevertheless, to develop a safe autonomous level 4 truck remains a complex task and resembles a marathon, not a sprint. Two years together with Torc Robotics, we have accomplished a lot, collaboratively pursuing a common goal of leading the logistics sector into the future and making road traffic safer for society. I am convinced that we are optimally positioned as a company and together with Torc we have the right partner at our side to achieve our goals."

Daimler Trucks and technology firm Torc Robotics have started to test autonomous trucks on public roads in the U.S. The routes are located on highways in southwest Virginia where Torc -- which is part of Daimler Trucks following a majority stake acquisition -- is based. In an announcement Monday, Daimler Trucks said that all of the "automated runs" would need an engineer to oversee the system as well as a safety driver. It added that all safety drivers held a commercial driver's license and had special training in vehicle dynamics and automated systems. The firm said that "months of extensive testing and safety validation" had already been conducted on a closed loop track. "Bringing Level 4 trucks to the public roads is a major step toward our goal to deliver reliable and safe trucks for the benefits of our customers, our economies and society," Martin Daum, a member of the board of management at Daimler with responsibility for trucks and buses, said in a statement.

Tesla is expected to finally unveil its semi truck on Nov. 16. The vehicle will be Tesla's first venture into commercial trucks, and is also being considered a test for the electric vehicle technology. Commercial deployment of large batteries needed to support such trucks will mark a paradigm shift for fuel guzzling vehicles with large carbon footprints. It will also make way for autonomous electric vehicles. While Tesla is bringing its range of technology to the trucking segment, it also has competitors in waiting.