On October 30, local time, Luminar Technologies, a global leader in automotive laser radar software and hardware, announced that it has established a strategic partnership with Daimler Truck AG, the world's largest commercial vehicle manufacturer, with the goal of first achieving highly automated truck transportation on highways. Daimler Truck AG and its North American subsidiary—Daimler Trucks North America, part of DTNA and Autonomous Technology Group—Torc Robotics will work with Luminar's experts to put mass-produced highly automated trucks (L4) on the road around the world. These teams will work closely to improve the lidar sensing, perception, and system-level performance of Daimler trucks on highways. In order to strengthen cooperation, Daimler Trucks also acquired a minority stake in Luminar.
It is expected that autonomous trucks will greatly improve the efficiency and safety of the logistics industry, initially focusing on long-distance highway routes. Compared with the development of urban autonomous driving, the use of autonomous driving technology in such restricted applications can achieve commercial mass production in a shorter time.
The cooperation between Luminar and Daimler Trucks is not limited to providing key automotive technology solutions. The two companies are also committed to improving safety. They will cooperate on safety standards and operating practices, and improve future policies and enhance automation based on joint projects. Driving car safety.
About Luminar
Luminar is an autonomous vehicle sensor and software company that is committed to widely achieving safe autonomous driving by providing the only lidar that meets the industry's stringent requirements in terms of performance, safety and cost. Currently, Luminar has 50 industry partners, including 8 of the world's top 10 automotive OEMs. Founded in 2012, the company has a team of 350 people and has offices in Palo Alto, Orlando, Colorado Springs, Detroit, and Munich.
In August 2020, Luminar announced that it had signed a definitive merger agreement with Gores Metropoulos, a subsidiary of Gores Group for special acquisition purposes. After the merger transaction is completed, Luminar will be listed on the Nasdaq stock market under the new stock code "LAZR".
Successful cooperation and results of Daimler Trucks and Torc Robotics
Daimler Trucks began to cooperate with Torc Robotics, headquartered in Blacksburg, Virginia, in the spring of 2019. By September, Torc Robotics became part of Daimler Trucks’ autonomous driving technology group division. The two companies focused on deploying L4 test fleets on the road, and began to redesign truck chassis, formulate strict test protocols and formal truck safety driver certification procedures, and expand the functionality of the software. The self-driving technology group division is currently expanding its self-driving test work to New Mexico and has established a new test center in Albuquerque in the state. Extending testing to new locations can support automated driving testing and provide data for next-generation automotive use cases that will be running on public roads starting in 2020. In September 2019, Daimler Trucks has begun the first public road test of autonomous trucks on highways in southwestern Virginia. In addition, Daimler Trucks is conducting closed tests of self-driving trucks at the North American company's Madras High Desert Proving Ground in Oregon.
Torc Robotics: Software expert, part of Daimler truck family
Torc combines its advantages with the advantages of Daimler Trucks to create a unique partnership, combining Torc's expertise in autonomous driving software development and vehicle integration with Daimler Trucks in providing reliable and safe trucks Combined with experience. By providing advanced technology that can be applied to road vehicles, coupled with years of experience in heavy vehicles, Torc has grown into a global industry leader in the field of autonomous driving. Torc's L4 virtual driver system has been integrated into multiple platforms and successfully tested on them. Such platforms will operate on public roads in cities and long-distance highway routes, as well as in rain, snow, fog and various light conditions.
Daimler Trucks, the pioneer of automated trucks
Daimler Trucks is a pioneer in truck automation. In 2014, the world’s leading truck manufacturer demonstrated the world’s first automated truck model-Mercedes-Benz Future Truck 2025 (Future Truck 2025), which is also the first time to show consumers and society the technical opportunities and technological opportunities of automated trucks. Great potential. In 2015, Daimler Freightliner Inspiration trucks obtained the first partially automated commercial vehicle road test permit and demonstrated automated driving on the highway in Nevada. Now, Daimler also offers Mercedes-Benz Actros, Freightliner Cascadia and FUSO Super Great truck models with partial autonomous driving functions.
Daimler Trucks North America develops redundant vehicle chassis and infrastructure
Portland-based Daimler Trucks North America (DTNA) is improving a truck chassis to make it particularly suitable for highly automated driving trucks and implementing redundant systems required for safe and reliable driving. As part of the Autonomous Driving Technology Group Division, DTNA is also studying the infrastructure required for the first batch of use case operation tests, and is committed to developing heavy-duty truck autonomous driving technology and vehicle integration technology.