Two Things: Class 8 And EV -- December 27, 2020

EVs are coming; the rest is already here:

Note the diversity of drivers, especially age and gender, and the watches these drivers are wearing.

Also, even more interesting / more important: look at the number of views this video has logged so far: 1,197,196 views. 

Meanwhile, Daimler showcases its second-generation autonomous Freightliner Cascadia, November 13, 2020.

It was Daimler Trucks that lit the autonomous trucking fuse in North America when its revolutionary Inspiration autonomous concept truck drove itself across Nevada’s Hoover Dam in 2015. 

The splashy press-reveal set off a debate that still rages today about the If, How and When merits of autonomous trucks. 

Five years on, Daimler is focusing on a more deliberate, nuanced, development program that puts driver safety at the center of its autonomous trucks R&D. 

At a press briefing attached to the official press reveal of the new Western Star 49X Class 8 vocational truck at the company’s proving grounds outside of Madras, Oregon, Anika Friesinger, director and project leader of DTNA’s Autonomous Vehicles program, briefed journalists on the current status of the company’s efforts and its new collaborations with Torc Robotics and Waymo. 

Friesinger noted that DTNA is now refining its second-generation autonomous truck, based on its current new Cascadia Class 8 on-highway tractor. Two recent versions of the autonomous Cascadia trucks were on display at Madras, and both provided hints as to how this emerging technology will change truck designs in the coming years. 

Most noticeable on the tractors were large, front bumper assemblies – similar to aluminum cattle pushers common on trucks running in areas with wild game and farm animals – and large, circular-shaped lidar clusters mounted above the cab doors on both sides of the trucks. These assemblies are essentially sensor housings, packed full of cameras, radar and lidar systems that constantly feed operational telemetry to the truck’s on-board computers, as well as to the Detroit DT automated transmission. It is worth noting that automated transmissions have evolved to become the “brains” of a modern tractor-trailer. 

And autonomous technology has taken the capabilities and responsibilities handled by these vehicle systems to levels of data management and operational commands that were unimaginable a few years ago.

Pay special attention to the side signal placement at the 5:00 minute mark on the video.  

By the way, does Waymo sound familiar?

From wiki:

Waymo LLC is an American autonomous driving technology development company. 

It is a subsidiary of Alphabet Inc, the parent company of Google. 

Waymo operates a commercial self-driving taxi service that operates in the greater Phoenix, Arizona area called "Waymo One", with Chandler, Arizona fully mapped. 

In October 2020, the company expanded the service to the public, and it is the only self-driving commercial service that operates without safety backup drivers in the vehicle. 

Waymo also is developing its driving technology for use in other vehicles, including delivery vans and Class 8 tractor-trailers for delivery and logistics.

More on Waymo and Daimler, press release:

Daimler Trucks and Waymo have signed a broad, global, strategic partnership to deploy autonomous SAE L4 technology. 

Their initial effort will combine Waymo's industry-leading automated driver technology with a unique version of Daimler's Freightliner Cascadia, to enable autonomous driving.
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 U.S. cities and 15 billion miles in simulation. 

Daimler Trucks North America, Daimler Trucks' U.S. subsidiary, parent company of the Freightliner brand and the U.S. 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. The autonomous Freightliner Cascadia truck, equipped with the Waymo Driver, will be available to customers in the U.S. in the coming years. Waymo and Daimler Trucks will investigate expansion to other markets and brands in the near future.

From 2018, "EV truck excitement is off the chart, all roads lead to Amazon," right on schedule:

Western Star.

Daimler unveils electric Freightliner Cascadia. June 6, 2018.

Daimler Trucks will launch a full line of electric trucks and buses starting with small scale pilot programs later this year and ramping up to full-scale production by 2021.

The company unveiled a nearly silent, electric version of its flagship Freightliner Cascadia heavy-duty truck at the Portland International Raceway during a meeting with Wall Street analysts and investors in Portland, Oregon, Tuesday (2018).

Not the kind of truck driver with whom I'm familiar (her dog, by the way, is named, "Dakota." Wow I need to take another road trip. LOL. I've just added another YouTube subscription. She has a "Corky," also. "Lucky." This is a must-watch video -- right to the end.