Daimler Truck AG subsidiary Torc Robotics has announced a multi-year collaboration with AV simulation and software developer Applied Intuition to address challenges of autonomous vehicle development in order to commercialise Torc’s autonomous trucks for over-the-road applications. 

Torc is developing a Level 4 autonomous system for long-haul trucking in the US. Applied Intuition provides simulation and software for safe development of autonomous systems. Its simulation software is supporting virtual testing of Torc’s algorithms in US highway environments.

The engagement between the two companies started in early 2020 when the Covid-19 pandemic started. On-road testing was temporarily halted to ensure the health and safety of Torc’s staff. However, the team was able to continue advancing autonomous driving capabilities in simulation without disruption. Currently, Torc’s test trucks run daily routes on public roads in multiple states, while simulation continues to be used for validation for new autonomous software features before real-world testing. 

The continuing collaboration is aimed to help Torc’s autonomous vehicles prepare for unpredictable, potentially dangerous events in the real-world and to support Torc as it scales as a global organisation.

“At Torc, safety dictates every aspect of our development including how we test and validate our autonomous technology,” said Michael Fleming, CEO and Founder of Torc. “The Applied team has demonstrated their expertise and has equipped us with tools to accelerate the safe development of commercial trucks in a financially viable way. We’re excited to continue our collaboration with Applied to make our roads safer for society.”

“Simulation allows our team to test new features and capabilities of the autonomous system on hundreds or thousands of different scenarios in a virtual world,” said Ben Hastings, CTO of Torc. “This means by the time the autonomous truck is on public roads, the autonomous system has already been validated in many of the scenarios we could encounter. Above that, strong simulation capabilities are a pillar on our path to commercialisation. With Applied Intuition, we are developing for the long-term with a product in mind.” 

“We are excited to collaborate with Torc to help them bring the world’s safest autonomous commercial trucks to market”, said Qasar Younis, CEO and Co-Founder of Applied Intuition. “Torc’s world-class engineering team has adopted many of our tools’ capabilities to design a state-of-the-art development approach. There are many more opportunities to collaborate in order to successfully deploy their trucks at scale.”