A 14-year-old autonomous vehicle company in Blacksburg has found an exit, courtesy of one of the world's foremost truck makers.
Daimler Trucks and Buses Holding Inc., a division of Daimler Group, is acquiring a majority stake in Torc Robotics for an undisclosed sum.
Finalization of the deal, announced Friday, is subject to approval from U.S. regulators.
For most of its history since 2005, Torc specialized in self-driving software and sensors for commercial, industrial and military use, before recently shifting its attention to consumer vehicles and electric shuttles.
Now, the company is running head-on into the freight world.
CEO Michael Fleming told Virginia Business it had been exploring opportunities to commercialize self-driving technology in the trucking market and started working with Daimler in the middle of last year. The companies said Torc will work with Daimler developers – especially Daimler Trucks North America in Portland, Ore. – to move into the trucking market.
It will remain a separate entity with the Torc name, team, customers and facilities, and will continue developing self-driving software, called Asimov, in Blacksburg. The company has more than 100 employees in Blacksburg, and doesn't appear to have raised any venture capital.
“With the ever-rising demand for road transportation, not the least through e-commerce, there is a strong business case for self-driving trucks in the U.S. market and I believe the fastest path to commercialization for self-driving trucks is in partnership with Daimler Trucks, the OEM market leader,” Fleming said in a statement.
Martin Daum, a Daimler board member responsible for trucks and buses, said the partnership provides “the ideal combination between Torc’s expertise on agile software development and our experience in delivering reliable and safe truck hardware.”
Other partnerships Torc has signed include Apple, Caterpillar for mining and agriculture applications and AAA for developing safety criteria through road testing. In January, it announced a partnership with Transdev to develop fully autonomous electric shuttles that are undergoing route testing in France and scheduled for commercial operation this year.
