The shift towards autonomous vehicles shows no sign of slowing.
At the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas earlier this year, Daimler Trucks announced it was adding a hands- and foot-free driving capability to the latest version of its Freightliner Cascadia truck.
What’s more, the company plans to invest $570 million to develop fully-autonomous trucks over the next ten years.
Daimler’s Freightliner is the best-selling truck in the US, and these new features would meet the auto industry’s definition of level 2 autonomy (i.e. the driver can use automated features, but is still able to fully control the vehicle when required).
Speaking about this, Martin Daum, Daimler Trucks CEO said: “Highly automated trucks will improve safety, boost the performance of logistics and offer a great value proposition to our customers – and thus contribute considerably to a sustainable future of transportation.”
Earlier this month, Baum was disparaging about Tesla’s electric project, but Daimler are clearly keen for their own electric truck success.