Truck & Off-Highway Engineering - February 2024 - 19

AUTONOMOUS FEATURE
" Safety will
determine
market
readiness. "
Joanna Buttler,
head of Daimler
Truck's Global
Autonomous
Technology Group.
Daimler Truck says that Torc's autonomous driving software has proven
it can safely navigate on highways, surface streets, ramps and turns at
controlled intersections.
surface streets, ramps and turns at controlled intersections, " Buttler said.
" We have come a long way, but there is still a lot of testing and development
work ahead of us. Safety will determine market readiness. "
Redundant vehicle systems are necessary for safe SAE Level 4 autonomous
operations. " With 1,500 technical requirements, all translated
into features and a second set of electronically controlled systems such
as steering, braking, power network and more, our autonomous-ready
Cascadia sets the industry standard for autonomous systems integration, "
Buttler said. " We are the first in the industry to offer a scalable,
powertrain-agnostic redundant autonomous vehicle platform. "
The second technical component is the autonomous driving system
(ADS), she noted. " Torc uses several disciplines of artificial intelligence
to sense the environment and to make autonomous driving
decisions. For example, when it comes to perception, their AI capabilities
help to detect and classify objects in challenging conditions
such as low light, fog or bad weather. "
DTNA integrates Torc's Virtual Driver into the trucks, which will
continue to undergo what Buttler calls rigorous testing and validation
processes - both in simulation and the real world - to ensure the
safety and performance of all systems prior to market launch in 2027.
" We see promising market and growth opportunities for Daimler
Truck, generating recurring revenue through offering a driver-as-aservice
subscription model for our fleet customers, " she said. " It
works similar to what you know from streaming providers: the product
is developed once and then scaled over many customers and
units - in our case, autonomous trucking miles. "
Finding the right lidar
In January, Daimler Truck announced that Aeva will supply its latest
Atlas automotive-grade 4D lidar for the Cascadia truck platform and
TRUCK & OFF-HIGHWAY ENGINEERING
collaborate with Torc to integrate the technology. The
collaboration begins in the first quarter of 2024, with
Aeva's start of production by 2026.
" Selecting the right lidar technology is a crucial strategic
decision to safely deploy autonomous trucks on
the road, " Buttler said in the release announcing the
arrangement. " We are convinced that Aeva with its
cutting-edge and reliable technology is the right production
partner for lidar sensors and has the manufacturing
capabilities to scale along with us. [This] announcement
therefore represents a key puzzle piece
on our path towards commercialization. "
Daimler Truck intends to integrate the long- and
ultra-long-range lidar sensors directly in its production
process, so trucks roll out of its plants autonomousready
with no need for customers to retrofit sensors.
Torc will sell its Virtual Driver technology and supporting
Mission Control services as a subscription to customers.
Its driving software will use Aeva's perception
software, built around Aeva's " instant velocity data "
that reportedly detects objects faster, further away
and with higher accuracy. One feature of the perception-software
package is Aeva Ultra Resolution, which
the company claims provides a real-time, " cameralike "
image with up to 20 times the resolution of conventional
3D lidar sensors.
Aeva's frequency modulated continuous wave
(FMCW) 4D lidar, which was on display at CES 2024 in
Las Vegas, uses a low-power continuous laser beam
- instead of laser pulses - to simultaneously measure
range and velocity for every point, enabling automated
vehicles to discriminate between static and dynamic
points and determine the precise velocity of dynamic
objects. The Mountain View, California-based
February 2024 19
BOTH IMAGES: DAIMLER TRUCK
Truck & Off-Highway Engineering - February 2024

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Truck & Off-Highway Engineering - February 2024
