After completing initial mapping of additional routes, Daimler Trucks and Torc Robotics have announced plans to expand their testing of automated truck technology to new public routes in the U.S.

Partners in Daimler Trucks’ Autonomous Technology Group, Daimler Trucks and Torc began initial public road testing in southwest Virginia last year, where Torc is headquartered. The teams use these public road tests to collect data from real-world traffic scenarios, which is beyond what can be learned from computer simulations and closed road courses.

Daimler Trucks and Torc say that they have been able to “rigorously test, develop and deploy” the automated system thanks to the combination of supportive state and local governments with the well-developed infrastructure and highway systems.

With plans to continue testing the next generation of automated driving software in Virginia, the Autonomous Technology Group will add the upcoming new routes to the data collecting.

“Safety is our highest priority. By expanding our testing to new routes in the U.S. we are able to learn more, work with various partners and apply our advanced testing methods to new environments,” explains Dr. Peter Vaughan Schmidt, head of Autonomous Technology Group at Daimler Trucks.

“These learnings help us to achieve our goal of safe and reliable highly automated driving, delivering value to our customers and society.”

Daimler Trucks has been testing and validating the durability, reliability and safety of commercial vehicles across the globe for dozens of years. The company has already brought partially automated driving features into series production with the introduction of technologies such as Active Drive Assist (Mercedes-Benz Actros, FUSO Super Great) and Detroit Assurance 5.0 with Active Lane Assist (Freightliner Cascadia).

Meanwhile, Torc’s “Asimov” autonomous driving system has been tested on public roads with zero accidents, including a cross-country journey.

By combining their extensive testing experience, Daimler Trucks and Torc say that they have developed a “comprehensive validation approach and safety protocols for automated driving and are completely aligned with the federal framework policy for testing and commercial deployment of SAE Level 4 automated trucks.”