Daimler Truck unveils battery electric autonomous Freightliner eCascadia technology demonstrator

PORTLAND, Ore./LEINFELDEN-ECHTERDINGEN, Germany (May 8, 2024) — Daimler Truck has the clear goal to lead the transformation to sustainable transportation and to address the challenges of tomorrow. The company is pursuing a vision of zero emissions and increased road safety by combining the two most promising 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: the autonomous Freightliner eCascadia technology demonstrator.

The truck is based on a production battery electric Freightliner eCascadia and is equipped with Torc's autonomous driving software and the latest Level 4 sensor and compute technology. This will eventually enable Level 4 autonomous driving. 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.