Autonomous driving technology company Waymo has committed to a global strategic partnership to deploy autonomous SAE L4 technology with Daimler Trucks.
Under the arrangement the initial effort will combine Waymo’s industry-leading automated driver technology with what is being described as a unique version of Daimler’s Freightliner Cascadia, to enable autonomous driving.
The autonomous Freightliner Cascadia truck, equipped with the Waymo Driver, will be available to customers in the US in the coming years.
Waymo and Daimler Trucks have confirmed that they will investigate expansion into other markets and brands in the near future.
Waymo brings over a decade of experience building the World’s Most Experienced Driver, having driven over 20 million miles on public roads across 25 US cities and 15 billion miles in simulation.
Daimler Trucks North America, Daimler Trucks’ US subsidiary, parent company of the Freightliner brand and the US market leader in commercial vehicle manufacturing, provides their experience in developing state-of-the art Class 8 vehicles.
Both Waymo and Daimler Trucks share the common goal of improving road safety and efficiency for fleet customers.
Martin Daum, Chairman of the Board of Management of Daimler Truck AG said his company was an industry leader in pioneering automated trucking.
“In recent years, we have achieved significant progress on our global roadmap to bringing series-produced highly automated trucks to the road,” he said.
“With our strategic partnership with Waymo as the leader in autonomous driving, we are taking another important step towards that goal. This partnership complements Daimler Trucks’ dual strategy approach, of working with two strong partners to deliver autonomous L4 solutions that are seamlessly integrated with our best-in class trucks, to our customers,” said Daum.
In a statement President and CEO of Daimler Trucks North America LLC Roger Nielsen said the combination of increased road freight volumes and the need and vision of fleet operators for highly automated trucks, is what fuels Freightliner’s relentless pursuit of innovation.
“We are pushing engineering solutions that strive above all to increase safety and help our customers improve business efficiencies. Based on our collaboration with Waymo, we will be in the unique position to be able to provide our fleet customers with a choice among the best solutions for their individual requirements,” he said.
Waymo CEO John Krafcik said he had the highest regard for Daimler’s engineering skills and broad global truck product portfolio.
“We look forward to scaling the Waymo Driver, together with our new partner, to improve road safety and logistics efficiency on the world’s roadways,” he said.