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Bloomberg
Daimler AG will start selling a heavy-duty truck in the US this year that’s able to brake, accelerate and steer at all speeds on its own. This will coincide with the planned launch of electric-car leader Tesla Inc’s Semi truck, which will stoke competition at a time when demand in North America is forecast to soften.
Taking the next step towards more automation could help freight haulers manage the strain of rising deliveries from online shopping amid a persistent shortage of drivers. But investments required to overcome technical hurdles are substantial.
The updated Freightliner Cascadia, which also will have lane-keeping assistance, fuses information from radar and cameras to enable partially autonomous technology, Daimler said at the CES in Las Vegas. To maintain its lead over the likes of Volvo AB and Paccar Inc, the manufacturer said it plans to offer within a decade highly-automated vehicles, which don’t need drivers, on some routes.
These trucks will improve safety and boost the performance of logistics, Daimler truck chief Martin Daum told reporters.
Success in North America is vital for Daimler’s commercial-vehicles unit to expand sales and profits after global deliveries topped 500,000 last year, the highest in a decade.