From TowTimes.com - Daimler Trucks Announces Automated Truck R&D Center

[TowBot]

Daimler Trucks has announced the creation of an Automated Truck Research and Development Center in Portland, Ore. The facility will be located at Daimler Trucks North America (DTNA) headquarters in Portland and dedicated to further developing automated driving technology and understanding its impact on society and benefits for customers.

The facility is part of the company’s plans to invest more than 2.5 billion euros in total research and development activities in 2018 and 2019 with more than 500 million euros of that earmarked for e-mobility, connectivity and automated commercial vehicle technology.

“Daimler Trucks believes that fully autonomous, driverless, commercial trucks will not be series produced in the near future; however, the technology has the potential to create numerous advantages for the global logistics industry by helping fleets to keep up with ever-increasing freight demands as the pool of long-haul truck drivers continues to decrease,” states the Daimler Trucks release.

A recent development of automated truck driving, platooning (known as pairing when two vehicles are used), was demonstrated with paired trucks as part of the Daimler Trucks Capital Market and Technology Day at Portland International Raceway. Using radar and camera sensor systems currently available as part of Detroit Assurance, along with vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communications and Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS), braking is coordinated across platooned vehicles and steering is partially automated to keep the trucks in the center of their lanes. The trucks in the platoon that follow respond to braking commands in less than three tenths of a second — significantly faster than a human can react — which allows for close following distances. The first real-world operation testing of platooning in the U.S. is in preparation. DTNA is working with customers on the technology to validate the practicality of hauling commercial freight with platooned vehicles.

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