Skip to main content

Daimler Trucks acquires majority stake in Torc Robotics

Daimler Trucks has acquired a majority stake in Torc Robotics in a bid to commercialise highly automated trucks operating at SAE Level 4 on US roads. Roger Nielsen, CEO of Daimler Trucks North America (DTNA), says: “Torc’s Level 4 system has been shown to operate well for both urban and highway driving in rain, snow, fog, and sunshine.” Martin Daum, member of the board of management at Daimler, says the deal will combine the company’s truck hardware with Torc’s “agile software development”. Torc i
April 11, 2019 Read time: 2 mins

2069 Daimler Trucks has acquired a majority stake in Torc Robotics in a bid to commercialise highly automated trucks operating at 567 SAE Level 4 on US roads.

Roger Nielsen, CEO of Daimler Trucks North America (DTNA), says: “Torc’s Level 4 system has been shown to operate well for both urban and highway driving in rain, snow, fog, and sunshine.”

Martin Daum, member of the board of management at Daimler, says the deal will combine the company’s truck hardware with Torc’s “agile software development”.

Torc is expected to work closely with DTNA’s research and development team in Portland, Oregon, where DTNA focuses on further evolving automated driving technology and vehicle integration for heavy-duty trucks.

Torc will continue to develop its Asimov self-driving software and testing at its facility in Blacksburg, Virginia.

The company will retain its name, team, existing customers and facilities in Blacksburg. The closing of the deal is subject to approval from US authorities.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Swarco acquires British traffic group
    May 8, 2014
    Austrian traffic technology group Swarco has acquired the APT group of companies, creating one of the largest traffic and parking management systems businesses in Europe.
  • Progressing work zone safety systems
    February 1, 2012
    David Crawford investigates progress in a key safety area - work zones. Highway construction zone safety is taken seriously enough in the US to merit a special spring National Work Zone Awareness Week, which in 2010 ran from 19-23 April. Headed by the US Department of Transportation's Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), this aims to reduce an annual toll of work zone deaths - 720 in 2008 (an average of one every 10 hours) with more than 40,000 traffic injuries (an average of one every 13 minutes).
  • Progressing work zone safety systems
    February 6, 2012
    David Crawford investigates progress in a key safety area - work zones
  • Manchester seeks smart but not selective transport solutions
    January 25, 2018
    Smarter transport relies on better communications both with travellers and between transport providers. Andrew Williams reports. Inrix’s prediction that the cost of traffic congestion will rise by 63% to £21bn per year by 2030 clearly illustrates that, in addition to the ongoing inconvenience and inefficiency, ongoing gridlock is a significant drain on the economy. It is against this backdrop that a Cisco-led consortium has launched CitySpire, a smart transport programme that uses location-based services a