On Tuesday, self-driving vehicle technology company Torc Robotics announced a major partnership with Utah-headquartered trucking company C.R. England.
In the May 9 announcement, Virginia-headquartered Torc said that the companies will “implement a pilot program leveraging C.R. England’s temperature-controlled loads and Torc’s fleet of Level 4 autonomous test trucks for long-haul applications.”
As part of the joint pilot, “select customers” will be provided with temperature-controlled capacity, the companies said. Data derived from the pilot will be used to further the commercial launch of autonomous trucks for long-haul applications.
Initial planning for the pilot is set to begin in mid-2023, with on the road testing starting soon after.
“Torc is thrilled to be partnering with C.R. England to better improve long-haul trucking safety for one of the premium service providers and largest refrigerated carriers in the nation,” said Peter Vaughan Schmidt, Torc Robotics CEO. “The data derived from the pilot will contribute to our safety and validation efforts and use cases for autonomous trucking.”
“C.R. England is excited to announce our partnership with Torc for pilot activities on Level 4 autonomous test trucks. We believe this innovation will eventually provide the ability to expand our network safely, with high levels of service to our customers, all while enhancing the quality of existing driver jobs,” says Chad England, C.R. England CEO. “Specifically, by adding autonomous lanes to our network, we can expand our customer offerings and create more structured jobs for drivers at both ends of autonomous runs. Torc’s deep integration with Daimler Truck AG makes our two organizations a perfect fit for piloting this new technology.”
Torc is an independent subsidiary of Daimler Truck AG.