C.R. England and Daimler Truck subsidiary Torc announce autonomous trucking pilot in the United States
Blacksburg, VA, USA /Portland, Ore. – Torc Robotics, an independent subsidiary of Daimler Truck AG (“Daimler Truck”) and a pioneer in commercializing self-driving vehicle technology, recently announced its strategic collaboration with C.R. England, one of North America’s premier transportation companies. Torc and C.R. England will implement a pilot program leveraging C.R. England’s temperature-controlled loads and Torc’s fleet of SAE Level 4 autonomous test trucks for long-haul applications. The collaboration will serve as an expansion for Torc to support carriers in the refrigerated freight market.
C.R. England and Torc are excited to participate in this joint pilot, which will provide select customers with temperature-controlled capacity and world-class service. Information from the pilot will include unique insights, and will help guide the development and ongoing commercialization of autonomous trucks for long-haul applications. Initial planning will begin mid-2023, with on-road tests soon after.
Joanna Buttler, Head of Autonomous Technology Group at Daimler Truck, says: “We listen very closely to our customers to understand their business requirements. Torc’s collaboration with C.R. England allows for unique insights into truckload freight that will help integrating with fleet industry logistics. While developing a safe and reliable redundant truck platform for the integration of our partner’s autonomous technology, co-creation will bring us closer to our goal of commercializing and implementing autonomous trucking within this decade.”
“Torc is thrilled to be partnering with C.R. England to better improve long-haul trucking safety for one of the premium service providers and largest refrigerated carriers in the nation,” said Peter Vaughan Schmidt, Torc Robotics CEO. “The data derived from the pilot will contribute to our safety and validation efforts and use cases for autonomous trucking.”
C.R. England CEO Chad England adds: “C.R. England is excited to announce our partnership with Torc for pilot activities on level 4 autonomous test trucks. We believe this innovation will eventually provide the ability to expand our network safely, with high levels of service to our customers, all while enhancing the quality of existing driver jobs. Specifically, 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. Torc’s deep integration with Daimler Truck AG makes our two organizations a perfect fit for piloting this new technology.”
The pilot program with C.R. England is Torc’s second announced carrier pilot. This news comes on the heels of Torc’s recently announced acquisition of Algolux for its award-winning intellectual property and expertise in computer vision and machine learning.
ABOUT TORC ROBOTICS
Torc Robotics, headquartered in Blacksburg, Virginia, is an independent subsidiary of Daimler Truck AG, a global leader and pioneer in trucking. Founded in 2005 at the birth of the self-driving vehicle revolution, Torc has 17 years of experience in pioneering safety-critical, self-driving applications. Torc offers a complete self-driving vehicle software and integration solution and is currently focusing on commercializing autonomous trucks for long-haul applications in the U.S. Torc operates test facilities in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and engineering offices in Austin, Texas, and Stuttgart, Germany. Torc’s mission is saving lives with autonomous technology, which incorporates reducing highway deaths, enabling critical supplies – including medicines and foods – to reach every community in a timely manner, and helping the transportation industry increase fuel economy, uptime, and capacity.
ABOUT C.R. ENGLAND
Founded in 1920, C.R. England is headquartered in Salt Lake City, UT and is one of North America’s premier transportation providers. The company is an industry leader in Dedicated, Over-The-Road, cross-border Mexico, Intermodal, and Logistics services. C.R. England has been regularly recognized for management excellence. This year, the company was recognized by Newsweek as one of ‘America’s Greatest Workplaces for Women,’ and ‘America’s Greatest Workplaces for Diversity.’ Additionally, C.R. England was recently honored by The Wall Street Journal as a ‘US Best Managed Company,’ by Glassdoor with their ‘Top Places to Work’ award, and by Achievers with their ‘50 Most Engaged Workplaces™ Award.’ C.R. England is committed to giving back to the community by fighting childhood hunger. With each load delivered, the company feeds a child, with the goal of feeding one million children per year.
Contact:
Anja Weinert anja.weinert@daimlertruck.com
About Daimler Truck North America
Daimler Truck North America LLC, headquartered in Portland, Oregon, is a leading provider of comprehensive products, services and technologies for the commercial transportation industry. Daimler Truck North America designs, engineers, manufactures and markets medium- and heavy-duty trucks, school buses, vehicle chassis and their associated technologies and components under the Freightliner, Western Star, Thomas Built Buses, Freightliner Custom Chassis Corp and Detroit brands. Daimler Truck North America is a subsidiary of Daimler Truck Holding AG (DTG), one of the world’s leading commercial vehicle manufacturers.
