Torc has tested its autonomous driving technology with prototypes of autonomous trucks in its Albuquerque research and development center, NM (Torc Robotics)
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Albuquerque, nm – Autonomous truck promoter Robotics Torc has displayed its technology and lays the basics of autonomous fleet operations because it targets a launch of the 2027 market for its virtual pilot product.
The independent subsidiary of Daimler truck opens the way to this deployment by leading pilots with main car carriers and by mapping details of how fleet customers will be shipped and will monitor unmanned commercial vehicles in the coming years.
Torc described his marketing plans and presented his progress during demonstrations of driving in his autonomous prototypes during a press event from November 13 to 14 in his Center for Albuquerque Research and Development.
CEO of Torc Peter Vaughan Schmidt said autonomous trucks The fleets will transport the freight “faster, more sure and at a lower cost” while helping to mitigate their recruitment and longtime retention recruitment challenges.
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By automating road driving stretching between designated freight centers, autonomous trucks could move more driver’s jobs to local and regional routes that offer more time at home and generally have lower bearing rates.
“This technology really has the potential to fight against this point of pain, to reduce costs, to bring the goods more quickly,” said Schmidt. “It can do good things for fleets but also for society.”
He suggested that the barrier at the entrance for autonomous trucking will be relatively low. Although the truck itself is more expensive, the cost per mile will drop considerably.
“If you buy an autonomous truck, the recovery time will be less than a year,” said Schmidt.
The Torc virtual pilot will be available with a modified version of the Freightliner Cascadia with redundant systems and components designed specifically to support autonomous driving.
In the years that followed Daimler acquired majority participation in the company in 2019Torc has not fired his vision of unmanned trucks traveling between the huts designated on the interstate roads as the first step for autonomous trucking.
“We stay in laser focused on ourselves on the Hub-to-Hub, above,” said Joanna ButtlerResponsible for the Daimler Truck autonomous technology group.
Although this commercial model requires strategically located freight poles to serve as launching and landing points for autonomous trucks, these hubs will not necessarily require massive investments in new infrastructure.
Instead, the fleets could adapt or renovate existing terminals, distribution centers or warehouses located near inter -retatic highways on high -volume freight tracks to serve as autonomous truck plants, said Schmidt .
Although the Hub-to-Hub model is designed to reduce complexity by minimizing off-road driving, unmanned trucks will always have to manage the difficult driving conditions they may meet on the road.
During a 30 -minute demonstration, Torc’s autonomous driving system sailed situations that can be difficult for professional drivers.
The Torc virtual pilot will be available with a modified version of the Freightliner Cascadia with redundant systems and components designed specifically to support autonomous driving. (Torc Robotics)
The 16 -mile itinerary, mainly on highways 25 and 40, has incorporated many track changes into moderate to heavy traffic, as well as a clover interchange and an intersection with advanced fire and pedestrian passages.
Prototype of Torc Autonomous Truck, a Freightliner Cascadia equipped with automated software and driving sensors, has negotiated traffic while carrying a loaded trailer and traveling at motorway speeds just under the displayed speed limit of 65 mph.
The virtual driver waited for timely moments to make track changes depending on traffic in the neighboring tracks and automatically created and maintained a next distance when a van was cut in front of it.
Along the way, the autonomous driving system has monitored and identified other vehicles on the road as well as a broken passenger car on the shoulder.
As is the case in all Torc tests on public roads, the autonomous truck had a driver of driver behind the wheel and a specialist in autonomous vehicles known as “safety driver” on the passenger seat.
The safety driver led the truck manually from the Torc research center to the i-25, then activated the virtual driver when merging on the highway. From that moment, the truck worked independently without any driver entrance for the rest of the race until the safety driver resumes manual control while leaving the highway to return to the ‘Research installation.
To go beyond the test and development phase and prepare for large-scale marketing, Torc will put its technology on the market in stages and will gradually extend its network of supported routes, said Andrew CulhaneTorc’s strategy director.
“We look at the deployment in a progressive approach,” he said.
Culhane said Torc will start by removing the safety driver on an initial freight path to Texas between Laredo and Dallas to prove the economic viability of his autonomous trucks. This North-South route covers around 400 miles and lines up with the freight volumes generated by the lag close to production in Mexico from foreign markets.
At first, Torc will have autonomous trucks and hubs on this first path and will manage everything, maintenance operations. Over time, however, the company will move to a model where its customers have and manage autonomous vehicles themselves while fleet operators or other third-party partners have and operate poles of autonomous trucks.
After having established Lane Laredo-Dallas, Torc plans to extend its network to the roads along the I-40 and to connect with key market zones, in particular Phoenix, Albuquerque, Oklahoma City, St. Louis, Memphis , Tenn. And Atlanta. The next development phase would add regional extensions to El Paso, Texas; Houston and Shreveport, La.
Torc has also described a set of specialized employment functions to support Hub-to-Hub autonomous truck operations.
An “hub operator” will take care of the physical tasks involving the autonomous truck such as the realization of security inspections before the trip, the supplies, the truck to the trailer and driving it in the launch position.
When the truck is ready, a “mission manager” will send and monitor autonomous trucks remotely when they transport freight. Torc said that it was planning to develop integrations with existing fleet transport management systems to support this mission control function.
Autonomous trucks will also involve new responsibilities and training for maintenance technicians, road assistance and customer support.
In the meantime, Torc already uses his test fleet to transport freight thanks to pilot projects with large trucking companies such as Schneider And CR England.
Schmidt highlighted a Phoenix pilot at Oklahoma which extends over about 1,000 miles with the truck arriving “with the last drop of diesel”.
Torc Autonomous Advisory AdvisoryComposed of large carriers, freight brokers, maintenance providers and other stakeholders in the industry, has provided business advice on the best way to integrate its technology into real freight networks.
At his last meeting, the members of this council represented $ 90 billion in freight, said Schmidt.
“I do not worry at all for commercial traction,” he said. “We feel the future with them.”
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