Daimler Truck North America (DTNA)’s autonomous trucking subsidiary, Torc Robotics, will team with the sensing and perception systems provider Aeva to advance the development of a new safety architecture for truck applications – enabling autonomous trucks to make safer, more intelligent decisions, they said.
The move expands the partners’ existing collaboration, following the production agreement signed last year when Daimler Truck selected Aeva as its supplier of long and ultra-long range LiDAR for its series production autonomous commercial vehicle program. The multi-year production agreement is targeting commercializing Daimler Truck autonomous trucks by 2027.
Under the new deal, Blacksburg, Virginia-based Torc and Mountain View, California-based Aeva will work together on technology advancements in service of L4 autonomous trucking to benefit the development of Torc’s Virtual Driver vehicle software. The companies will share 4D LiDAR sensing data and share a Freightliner Cascadia vehicle platform for use in long-range sensing applications.
The news follows Torc’s announcement in December that it would use data from Uber Freight to enhance its development and deployment roadmap for autonomous trucks.
Funds are continuing to flow to companies building self-driving cars, as the Swiss startup Embotech today said it had raised $27 million to expand autonomous driving solutions for logistics in Europe and beyond, including U.S. operations by the end of 2025.
The Zurich firm said it would use the new funding to help the company scale up its Automated Vehicle Marshalling (AVM) and Autonomous Terminal Tractor (ATT) solutions in Europe, and ultimately in the United States, Middle East, and Asia.
Embotech—which is short for “embedded optimization technologies”—says it has already secured multi-year rollout contracts for its AVM solution in finished vehicle logistics and for its ATT solution for port and yard logistics applications.
Specifically, Embotech began rolling out its AVM solution in 2023 with automaker BMW. The technology guides new BMW vehicles along a one-kilometer route between two assembly facilities, through a squeak and rattle track, and to the finishing area – with no driver needed at any stage of the journey. That will now expand under a multi-year contract to install the AVM solution in six additional BMW passenger car factories worldwide by the end of 2025, including BMW’s plant in Spartanburg, South Carolina.
And for its ATT business, Embotech is gearing up for a major rollout to haul shipping containers at Europe's largest port, the port of Rotterdam in the Netherlands, with 30 units set to be deployed over the next 2 years. The electric ATTs are equipped with Embotech’s Level 4 Autonomous Vehicle (AV) Kit, which enables them to operate autonomously in complex, mixed traffic situations. Embotech’s autonomous tractors use a combination of LIDAR, cameras, and GPS to detect obstacles in all weather conditions and achieve localization accuracy of less than 5 cm.
According to Embotech, its autonomous driving solutions deliver benefits such as increasing operational efficiency through 24-hour operation, flexible peak handling, and improved transparency with digital integration.
The “series B” round was led by Emerald Technology Ventures and Yttrium, with additional funds from BMW i Ventures, Nabtesco Technology Ventures, Sustainable Forward Capital Fund, RKK VC and existing investors. “Embotech impressed us with their unique, highly adaptable autonomous logistics solution,” Axel Krieger, Partner at Yttrium, said in a release. “The company tackles the global logistics challenge for both commercial and passenger vehicles. With a strong orderbook as well as proven industry partnerships, Embotech is uniquely positioned to lead the market. An investment that aligns perfectly with Yttrium’s goal to empower tomorrow’s B2B technology champions."
Electric yard truck provider Outrider plans to scale up its autonomous yard operations in 2025 thanks to $62 million in fresh venture capital funding, the Colorado-based firm said.
The expansion in 2025 will be focused on distribution center applications, but Outrider says its technology is also well-suited for use in intermodal rail and port terminals, paving the way for future applications across freight transportation.
“Outrider’s proprietary safety systems; consistent, predictable movement through complex and chaotic environments; and patented robotic-arm-based system for trailer air and electric line connections have allowed us to stay far ahead of any competition," Bob Hall, Chief Operating Officer at Outrider, said in a release.
The “series D” round was led by Koch Disruptive Technologies (KDT) and New Enterprise Associates (NEA), with additional investments from 8VC, ARK Invest, B37 Ventures, FM Capital, Interwoven Ventures, NVentures (NVIDIA’s venture capital arm), and Prologis Ventures. Other investors joining the Series D financing are Goose Capital; Lineage Ventures, the investment strategy of Lineage, Inc.; Presidio Ventures, the venture capital arm of Sumitomo Corporation; and Service Provider Capital. In total , the new backing brings the company to over $250 million in equity capital raised to date.
According to Indiana-based Wabash, its TaaS offering differs from traditional leasing because it ensures minimal downtime by providing a holistic solution that supports the full lifecycle of the trailer, from acquisition to maintenance and uptime management.
In addition to its TaaS service, Wabash makes products including: dry freight and refrigerated trailers, flatbed trailers, tank trailers, dry and refrigerated truck bodies, structural composite panels and products, trailer aerodynamic solutions, and specialty food grade processing equipment.
In turn, California-based Kodiak will focus on further developments to “Kodiak Driver,” its autonomous technology. The company last month said it had surpassed 50,000 miles of autonomous long-haul trucking by working in collaborations with other companies such as supply chain solutions provider J.B. Hunt Transport Services Inc. and tire and sustainable mobility vendor Bridgestone Americas.
Automakers are rushing to pack vehicles with the latest technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), but according to market research firm J.D. Power, U.S. drivers may just be overwhelmed with glitzy features that don’t solve a problem, don’t work, are difficult to use, or are too limited in functionality.
For example, new AI-based technologies like smart climate control have quickly won popularity with those owners who have used it. But recognition technologies such as facial recognition, fingerprint reader, and interior gesture controls fall out of favor as they unsuccessfully try to solve a problem that owners didn’t know they had. The study found that not only do owners say that interior gesture controls can be problematic (43.4 problems per 100 vehicles), but 21% of these owners also say this technology lacks functionality.
To help automakers solve the problem, J.D. Power says it has developed a return on investment (ROI) analysis as part of its TXI findings to cluster individual technologies into three categories: must have, nice to have, and not necessary. In turn, carmakers can use those ranking to see which technologies deserve the most attention, versus which can be dropped to ease the escalating costs of new vehicles.
“A strong advanced tech strategy is crucial for all vehicle manufacturers, and many innovative technologies are answering customer needs,” Kathleen Rizk, senior director of user experience benchmarking and technology at J.D. Power, said in a release. “At the same time, this year’s study makes it clear that owners find some technologies of little use and/or are continually annoying.”
In additional examples, the TXI survey found that:
despite the increasing availability of advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), many owners remain indifferent to their value. Most owners appreciate features that directly address specific concerns, such as visual blind spots while backing up. But many owners say they’re perfectly capable of handling tasks without other features like active driving assistance.
automakers are expanding their offering of vehicles containing a second infotainment control screen in the vehicle, despite the feature being classified as “not necessary” by vehicle owners, who say they seldom carry front-seat passengers and that the interfaces are difficult to learn.
as Tesla's customer base expands beyond the tech-hungry early adopters who drove its early growth, the broader range of users now report lower satisfaction across certain problematic techs that its early fans had excused, such as direct driver monitoring.
The 2024 U.S. Tech Experience Index (TXI) Study is based on responses from 81,926 owners of new 2024 model-year vehicles who were surveyed after 90 days of ownership. The study was fielded from July 2023 through May 2024 based on vehicles registered from April 2023 through February 2024.
The California self-driving truck maker Gatik AI Inc. has announced its third investment round of 2024, collecting the new funding from Japanese logistics provider Nippon Express Holdings Inc. (NX Group).
Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but Gatik said it would use the backing to strengthen its position in the North American logistics landscape, accelerating the deployment of its autonomous technology across the region.
Gatik provides autonomous trucks for the middle-mile segment of the supply chain, shuttling “often-overlooked” routes between distribution centers, fulfillment centers, and retail locations. Once those vehicles arrive at Gatik hubs, human drivers taker over and drive the load to its final destination.
According to Gatik, that approach addresses critical challenges like driver shortages and supply chain inefficiencies, resulting in faster deliveries and reduced costs. The company says its autonomous transportation network is already operating successfully in regions such as Texas and Arkansas in the U.S., and Ontario in Canada.
Covering highway miles with self-driving trucks and leaving the first and last mile legs to human drivers is a similar approach to several other autonomous vehicle vendors, such as Kodiak Robotics and Volvo Autonomous Solutions (V.A.S.).
“Middle-mile autonomy is undoubtedly the first application in autonomous trucking to achieve scale in commercial applications. It’s also critical for solving the most pressing logistics issues businesses are facing today—ensuring faster deliveries, addressing growing labor shortages, reducing costs, and meeting the rising demand for goods in this era of rapid e-commerce growth,” Gautam Narang, CEO and co-founder of Gatik, said in a release. “Our investment partnership with NX Group is a testament to the impact we’re making in North America and the confidence of global partners in our ability to meet the evolving needs of our customers.”