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Daimler expects highly automated trucks within a decade
SAE level four targets will allow drivers to go to sleep on the move
Daimler Trucks is to invest about R8bn over the next few years in a bid to bring highly automated trucks (SAE level 4) to the road within a decade. It made this announcement at the recent Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas where it showed off its new Freightliner Cascadia, said to be the first ever partially automated series production truck on North American roads. The new Cascadia features SAE 2 level autonomous driving capability where its “hands off” automated system takes full control of acceleration, braking and steering. However, the driver still monitors progress and must be ready to intervene immediately at any time if the automated system fails to respond properly. The crux of this investment is to skip SAE level 3 (“eyes off”) which would allow the driver to safely turn their attention away from the driving tasks and the truck will handle situations that call for an immediate response, such as emergency braking. Instead, Daimler Trucks wants to move straight to ...
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