Daimler debuts autonomous truck on US roads

Daimler Trucks has become the world’s first manufacturer to be granted a road licence for an autonomous heavy-duty truck. The state of Nevada licensed two Freightliner Inspiration trucks for regular operation on public roads. The first journey in the Freightliner Inspiration truck equipped with the intelligent Highway Pilot system for autonomous driving took place on US highway 15 in Las Vegas.
May 20, 2015 Read time: 2 mins
2069 Daimler Trucks has become the world’s first manufacturer to be granted a road licence for an autonomous heavy-duty truck. The state of Nevada licensed two Freightliner Inspiration trucks for regular operation on public roads.

The first journey in the Freightliner Inspiration truck equipped with the intelligent Highway Pilot system for autonomous driving took place on US highway 15 in Las Vegas.

In July of last year, Daimler Trucks provided the world’s first demonstration of an autonomous truck in action when the Mercedes-Benz Future Truck 2025 drove along a cordoned-off section of the A14 autobahn near Magdeburg. In the last few months the technology has been tested over many thousands of kilometres and configured for use in US highway traffic.

The Freightliner Inspiration Truck is based on the series-produced US Freightliner Cascadia Evolution model, with the addition of the Highway Pilot technology. This comprises a front radar and stereo camera plus tried-and-tested assistance systems such as the Adaptive Cruise Control+, as seen in the Mercedes-Benz Actros. The technology was further developed and extensively tested for licensing on public roads in Nevada.

“Our Freightliner Inspiration Truck is the world’s first autonomous commercial vehicle to be licensed for road use. Our achievement here underlines yet again our role as a technological pioneer and demonstrates our consistent dedication to develop the technology for autonomous long-distance driving to series production standard,” stated Dr Wolfgang Bernhard, Daimler AG board member responsible for trucks and buses.

“We are in a unique position among manufacturers that we are able to implement technologies across all business units and brands. We have transferred our Highway Pilot system to our US Freightliner brand within a very short time frame and developed it for the world´s first autonomous truck to be licensed for road use,” reports Dr Bernhard.
Location Based Systems

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • ITS events vital forum for networking, calls to action
    February 6, 2012
    Tom Kern, executive VP of ITS America, on why he believes events like the forthcoming ITS World Congress are so important for the industry
    Read More
  • ITS events vital forum for networking, calls to action
    January 20, 2012
    Tom Kern, executive VP of ITS America, on why he believes events like the forthcoming ITS World Congress are so important for the industry. This October's World Congress on Intelligent Transport Systems is coming home. Home to Orlando, that is. The first America's-based World Congress took place in Orlando in 1996 and now, 15 years later, the sixth Americas World Congress and 18th overall returns just in time to see how far Florida has come in the deployment of ITS technologies helping to make for safe, mob
    Read More
  • Daimler and Bosch announce JV
    April 19, 2012
    Daimler and Robert Bosch have signed agreements on the establishment of a 50:50 joint venture (JV) for electric motors. Subject to the approval of the antitrust authoritie, the new company, which is to be set up under the name EM-motive, will develop, produce, and market innovative electric motors for electric vehicles.
    Read More
  • One of the world’s largest C2X communication trials hits the road
    August 8, 2012
    One of the largest ever field trials of car-to-X communication (C2X) is getting underway in Germany in a trial that consists of 120 vehicles that will take to the roads of the Rhine-Main region until the end of the year. Each car has a network link to the others, as well as to the traffic infrastructure, and they will keep each other updated about the current traffic situation.
    Read More

Highlighted Content