Depending on your point of view, this could be the best news or the worst.
Worst, if you are a driver who believes their livelihood could be negatively impacted. But, read on before you judge the technology too harshly.
To further its vision of zero emissions and increased road safety, Daimler Truck North America has combined two technologies to deliver on that vision—battery-electric drive and integrated autonomous driving technology—in one semi-truck for the first time in its history.
It has inputted the technologies into its autonomous Freightliner eCascadia technology demonstrator, which is based on a production battery electric Freightliner eCascadia. It has been equipped with Torc Robotics' autonomous driving software and the latest Level 4 sensor and computing technology. Torc Robotics is Daimler Truck’s independent subsidiary for autonomous virtual driver technology.
While still a research and advanced engineering project, the autonomous vehicle has the potential to evolve into a modular, scalable platform that is propulsion-agnostic for flexible use in different trucking applications. The goal is to offer customers a choice of the right vehicles for their specific business and transportation needs.
“By combining zero-emission and autonomous technologies in one product, we are testing solutions for challenges our customers are likely to face in the future,” stated John O'Leary, the President and Chief Executive Officer of Daimler Truck North America. “We want to give them choices that allow them to do what they do best: keep the world moving today and well into the future. That takes a lot of foresight, questioning, testing, learning, improving, and co-creating with our customers years in advance to ultimately find the right solution. This truck is a great example of the beginning of that development process.”
Joanna Buttler, Head of Global Autonomous Technology Group at Daimler Truck, added: “Together with Torc, we are making significant progress towards introducing autonomous trucks in the US by 2027. While we target autonomous trucks with conventional propulsion technology for this first market launch, we always look further into the future. We will employ an iterative approach to the development, testing, and optimization of autonomous-electric technology while exploring the most promising use cases in collaboration with our fleet customers.”
Technical specifications
The industry-leading battery electric Freightliner eCascadia, a proven vehicle base for the autonomous eCascadia technology demonstrator, went into production in 2022 and has now reached 6,000,000 real-world miles in more than 55 fleets in the US.
This zero-emission Class 8 truck is designed to provide optimal productivity for fleets looking to transition to efficient, zero-emission tractors.
The battery can be recharged to 80 percent capacity in as little as 90 minutes. There are multiple battery and drive axle options available, providing the vehicle with a typical range of 155, 220, or 230 miles, depending on the specific configuration.
The Freightliner eCascadia is equipped with the proprietary Detroit ePowertrain, which delivers performance, efficiency, and reliability. For added safety on the road, the eCascadia also comes standard with the Detroit Assurance suite of safety systems, including Active Brake Assist 5.
For the first time, the autonomous sensor suite and compute power, currently being tested on the autonomous diesel Cascadia, are packaged to fit the smaller daycab configuration of the battery-electric eCascadia.
To ensure adequate cooling, Daimler Truck North America’s engineering team has developed an advanced prototype air-cooling concept for the compute stack, which is efficiently positioned between the driver and passenger seats.
Customized software provides the autonomous system with control interfaces and feedback on vehicle status.
The in-house-designed sensor bar cover, which incorporates cameras, lidar sensors, and radar sensors, improves aerodynamic performance while providing better protection from damage and soiling. Four additional 12-volt batteries provide enough high-voltage power to ensure uninterrupted operation and increased efficiency and safety.
Looking forward
Daimler Truck said it is committed to exploring the potential of emerging technologies to benefit its customers, hoping to provide optimal vehicle solutions utilizing various propulsion technologies.
By developing a propulsion-agnostic autonomous truck platform, Daimler Truck said it is leveraging its collective strength to make a positive impact on the future of transportation.
The autonomous eCascadia demonstrator provides a glimpse of future autonomous use cases, including shorter, repeatable routes with the use of zero-emissions infrastructure. Depending on the application, future autonomous trucks could also be powered by hydrogen-based propulsion technologies.
[ED.NOTE: Service Truck Magazine bolded, italicized, and underlined “shorter, repeatable” to denote that long-haul drivers are not being eliminated.]
In the currently tested hub-to-hub application, the intent is to drive autonomously between freight centers along US highway corridors.
By identifying synergies between zero emissions and autonomous infrastructure in a future scenario, the charging infrastructure and autonomous freight hubs could be combined to charge and load simultaneously, further enhancing efficiency for carriers.
The autonomous eCascadia technology demonstrator is designed with many commonalities with the production eCascadia, leveraging synergies in the development process, streamlining engineering processes, and increasing customer value through ease of serviceability, as customers may already be familiar with the battery-electric Cascadia.
Summary
Daimler Truck has been developing and testing autonomous truck technology since 2015, with the reveal of the Freightliner Inspiration Truck as the first licensed SAE Level 2 autonomous commercial truck to operate on open public highways in the US.
The company aims to enter the market with production SAE Level 4 autonomous trucks in the US by 2027. Its technology partner, Torc, has been testing autonomous-ready Freightliner Cascadia trucks in real-world applications with selected logistics companies such as Schneider and C.R. England, successfully moving customer freight autonomously on its test route between Phoenix, Arizona, and Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, over the past year.
Daimler Truck has emphasized that it will leverage the highly scalable and profitable market opportunity that autonomous driving is expected to offer and that it expects autonomous trucking to generate revenues of US$3.2 billion and EBIT (earnings before interest and taxes) of more than US$1 billion as early as 2030.
For more information on Daimler Truck, visit www.daimlertruck.com.