Daimler Truck makes variety of new-tech advances

From mentions made in recent news releases, it seems Daimler Truck AG has its fingers in several commercial trucking new-tech pies.

Hydrogen fuel cell tech

One of the news stories comes from Volvo Trucks. The Gothenberg, Sweden-based company announced it had road-tested its hydrogen fuel cell electric truck on roads above the Arctic Circle in Sweden. The company had introduced the trucks in 2022. They are zero-emission trucks that use hydrogen to produce their own electricity.

“Trucks are operating seven days a week and in all types of weather. The harsh conditions on public roads in northern Sweden, with ice, wind and lots of snow, make an ideal testing environment,” Helena Alsiö, vice president of powertrain product management at Volvo Trucks, said in the news release.

Volvo Group noted that to speed up development of heavy-duty fuel cell trucks, it had joined forces with Daimler. In 2021, Volvo Group had acquired 50% of Daimler Truck’s Fuel Cell Gmbh & Co. KG for roughly 600 million euro (about $655 million U.S.). The company was renamed Cellcentric GmbH & Co. KG.

“The ambition is to make the new joint venture a leading global manufacturer of fuel cells, and thus help the world take a major step toward climate-neutral and sustainable transportation by 2050,” Daimler Truck announced.

Volvo said the fuel cell electric trucks will be available before the end of this decade. A few years before the commercial launch there will be tests with carriers.

Self-driving tech partnership

Another news story with Daimler connections is about Salt Lake City-based C.R. England working with Blacksburg, Va.-based Torc Robotics on a self-driving truck pilot program.

The pilot program is testing Level 4 autonomy. There are four levels of self-driving vehicles. Level 5 is fully self-driving. Level 4 is “highly automated” driving. Level 3 is “conditionally automated.”

Since 2019, Torc Robotics has been an independent subsidiary of Daimler Truck AG. Torc Robotics was founded in 2005.

“By adding autonomous lanes to our network, we can expand our customer offerings and create more structured jobs for drivers at both ends of autonomous runs,” Chad England, C.R. England CEO, said in the news release. “Torc’s deep integration with Daimler Truck AG makes our two organizations a perfect fit for piloting this new technology.”

Torc Robotics in September 2022 announced a Level 4 self-driving long-haul truck pilot program with Green Bay, Wis.-based Schneider National.

Also, Torc Robotics in April 2023 acquired Algolux Inc. Algolux has expertise in the areas of artificial intelligence, computer vision and machine learning.

Other Daimler new tech news

These are in addition to other tech-related announcements from Daimler.

The truck maker in early May introduced a line of medium-duty electric trucks for North America called Rizon. The trucks are expected to be available in the fourth quarter of 2023.

A year ago, Daimler Truck announced its eCascadia daycab was ready for deliveries. The tractor has a typical range of 230 miles, depending on vehicle configuration.

In January 2023, the company announced a partnership with The Oregon State University College of Engineering to develop a zero-emission heavy-duty truck capable of regional and long-haul freight deliveries as part of the U.S. Department of Energy’s SuperTruck program. Since the SuperTruck program began in 2009, Paccar, Volvo, Ford Motor Co. and General Motors also have won funds to develop zero-emission trucks.

Daimler Truck AG has headquarters in Leinfelden-Echtenbingen, Germany. It was established as a subsidiary of Daimler AG in 2019. It was spun off as its own company in 2021.

Daimler Truck North America is headquartered in Portland, Ore. It is a subsidiary of Daimler Truck AG. It formerly was Freightliner Corp. It produces and markets commercial vehicles under the Freightliner, Western Star and Thomas Built Buses nameplates. LL

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