Daimler’s Autonomous Electric Freightliner eCascadia Hints At The Future

America is experiencing a motortruck operator shortage, but assistance is connected the mode arsenic Daimler Truck aims to connection an autonomous semi by 2027. That would beryllium a crippled changing improvement arsenic the Level 4 conveyance wouldn’t request a quality operator erstwhile operating nether definite conditions.

While that’s inactive a ways off, the institution is giving america a glimpse into the aboriginal with an autonomous Freightliner eCascadia exertion demonstrator. As the sanction suggests, the prototype is based connected the electrical eCascadia and comes equipped with autonomous driving exertion from Torc Robotics, which is “Daimler Truck’s autarkic subsidiary for autonomous virtual operator technology.”

More: Kodiak’s Latest Autonomous Semi Sports New Sensors And Improved Reliability

The institution was coy connected specifics, but said the exertion demonstrator was designed to person “many commonalities” with the accumulation eCascadia. That peculiar exemplary is simply a Class 8 truck, which offers 291 and 438 kWh artillery packs. They alteration the semi to question betwixt 155 and 230 miles (249 and 370 km) connected a azygous charge.

While the institution didn’t accidental which powertrain the prototype has, it features a sensor barroom with cameras arsenic good arsenic lidar and radar sensors. The barroom is mounted high-up connected the conveyance and this helps to amended aerodynamic performance, support the sensors, and assistance forestall “soiling.”

Additional sensors are mounted further beneath and Daimler said the demonstrator has 4 other 12-volt batteries to “ensure uninterrupted operation” arsenic good arsenic accrued safety. The exemplary has besides been outfitted with a compute stack, which is located betwixt the seats and uses a prototype air-cooling concept.

The exemplary is envisioned to beryllium utilized connected short, repeatable routes that person charging infrastructure. Daimler added that portion this is “still a probe and precocious engineering project, the autonomous conveyance has the imaginable to germinate into a modular, scalable level that is propulsion agnostic for flexible usage successful antithetic trucking applications.”

Daimler Truck North America CEO John O’Leary said “By combining zero-emission and autonomous technologies successful 1 product, we are investigating solutions for challenges our customers are apt to look successful the future. We privation to springiness them choices that let them to bash what they bash best: support the satellite moving contiguous and good into the future.” That being said, the company’s archetypal autonomous trucks are slated to usage accepted powertrains.