The Freightliner Inspiration is a prototype semi-trailer truck designed by Freightliner Trucks. The truck is the first autonomous commercial vehicle to be legally operated in the United States. [1] [2] There have been two units produced. [1]
The truck was licensed to operate by the Nevada Department of Motor Vehicles in 2015. [2]
A semi-trailer truck, also known as a semitruck, is the combination of a tractor unit and one or more semi-trailers to carry freight. A semi-trailer attaches to the tractor with a type of hitch called a fifth wheel.
A truck or lorry is a motor vehicle designed to transport cargo, carry specialized payloads, or perform other utilitarian work. Trucks vary greatly in size, power, and configuration, but the vast majority feature body-on-frame construction, with a cabin that is independent of the payload portion of the vehicle. Smaller varieties may be mechanically similar to some automobiles. Commercial trucks can be very large and powerful and may be configured to be mounted with specialized equipment, such as in the case of refuse trucks, fire trucks, concrete mixers, and suction excavators. In American English, a commercial vehicle without a trailer or other articulation is formally a "straight truck" while one designed specifically to pull a trailer is not a truck but a "tractor".
A self-driving car, also known as an autonomous car, driver-less car, or robotic car (robo-car), is a car incorporating vehicular automation, that is, a ground vehicle that is capable of sensing its environment and moving safely with little or no human input. Self-driving cars combine a variety of sensors to perceive their surroundings, such as thermographic cameras, radar, lidar, sonar, GPS, odometry and inertial measurement units. Advanced control systems interpret sensory information to identify appropriate navigation paths, as well as obstacles and relevant signage. As a future technology, they are predicted to have a comprehensive impact on automobile industry, health, welfare, urban planning, traffic, insurance, labor market and other fields.
Freightliner Trucks is an American semi truck manufacturer. Founded in 1929 as the truck-manufacturing division of Consolidated Freightways, the company was established in 1942 as Freightliner Corporation. Owned by Daimler AG from 1981 to 2021, Freightliner is now a part of Daimler Truck subsidiary Daimler Truck North America.
Penske Truck Leasing Co., L.P. is a joint venture of Penske Corporation, Penske Automotive Group, and Mitsui & Co. Headquartered in Reading, Pennsylvania, the company was founded by Team Penske owner Roger Penske on December 1, 1969. The firm serves customers in North America, South America, Europe, Asia, and Australia; among its services are full-service commercial truck leasing, truck fleet maintenance, truck rentals, and used truck sales. The company currently employs more than 36,000 workers worldwide and operates and maintains a fleet of more than 300,000 vehicles. Brian Hard is the president and CEO of the company.
An electric truck is an electric vehicle powered by batteries designed to transport cargo, carry specialized payloads, or perform other utilitarian work.
Vehicular automation involves the use of mechatronics, artificial intelligence, and multi-agent systems to assist the operator of a vehicle. These features and the vehicles employing them may be labeled as intelligent or smart. A vehicle using automation for difficult tasks, especially navigation, to ease but not entirely replace human input, may be referred to as semi-autonomous, whereas a vehicle relying solely on automation is called robotic or autonomous. Both of these types are instantiated in today's various self-driving cars, advanced airliner autopilots, drone aircraft, and planetary rovers, as well as guided rockets and missiles. After the invention of the integrated circuit, the sophistication of automation technology increased. Manufacturers and researchers subsequently added a variety of automated functions to automobiles and other vehicles. The technology involved in implementing autonomous vehicles is very expansive, ranging from technological improvements in the vehicle itself to the environment and objects around the vehicle. As the use of automated vehicles increases, they are becoming more influential in human lives. Although automated vehicles bring various benefits, they also come with various concerns. Also, there are still technological challenges that need to be overcome in order to make vehicular automation robust and scalable.
Truck classifications are typically based upon the maximum loaded weight of the truck, typically using the gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) and sometimes also the gross trailer weight rating (GTWR), and can vary among jurisdictions.
Daimler Truck North America LLC is an automotive industry manufacturer of commercial vehicles headquartered in Portland, Oregon, and LLC of the German multinational Daimler Truck AG.
Western Star Trucks Sales, Inc. is an American truck manufacturer headquartered in Portland, Oregon, and a subsidiary of Daimler Truck North America, which is in turn a wholly owned subsidiary of the Germany-based Daimler Truck.
Waymo LLC, formerly known as the Google self-driving car project, is an American autonomous driving technology company headquartered in Mountain View, California. It is a subsidiary of Alphabet Inc, the parent company of Google.
The Freightliner Cascadia is a heavy-duty semi-trailer truck and the flagship model of Freightliner. Its design took fuel efficiency into great consideration, and several other features including the powertrain offerings, sound mitigation, safety systems, and overall mechanical reliability were improved from its predecessors. It is offered in three basic configurations: Day Cab, Mid-Roof XT, and Raised Roof. The latter two models are sleeper cabs, offered in various lengths ranging from 48 to 72 inches. The Cascadia was sold chiefly in North America until 2020, when an export version primarily geared towards the Australian and New Zealand markets was introduced. Prior to the introduction of the export variant, its place remained occupied by the Freightliner Century for export markets.
American Truck Simulator is a truck simulator game developed and published by SCS Software. It was announced as being in development in September 2013 and unveiled at the E3 2015. It was released on 2 February 2016 for Microsoft Windows, Linux, and macOS. The game is the parallel sequel to Euro Truck Simulator 2, the spiritual successor of 18 Wheels of Steel, and the third installment in the Truck Simulator series. Set in a condensed depiction of United States, the player can drive one of a choice of American-style conventional trucks, visiting various locations across the U.S., picking up a variety of cargos, and delivering them to its destination.
The Freightliner Business Class M2 is a model range of medium-duty trucks produced by Freightliner. In production since June 2002, the M2 is the successor to the FL-Series introduced in the 1990s. In terms of size, the M2 is produced in Class 5 through Class 8 GVWR ratings, competing primarily against the International Durastar and the Ford F-650/F-750 Super Duty.
Experiments have been conducted on self-driving cars since 1939; promising trials took place in the 1950s and work has proceeded since then. The first self-sufficient and truly autonomous cars appeared in the 1980s, with Carnegie Mellon University's Navlab and ALV projects in 1984 and Mercedes-Benz and Bundeswehr University Munich's Eureka Prometheus Project in 1987. Since then, numerous major companies and research organizations have developed working autonomous vehicles including Mercedes-Benz, General Motors, Continental Automotive Systems, Autoliv Inc., Bosch, Nissan, Toyota, Audi, Volvo, Vislab from University of Parma, Oxford University and Google. In July 2013, Vislab demonstrated BRAiVE, a vehicle that moved autonomously on a mixed traffic route open to public traffic.
The Tesla Semi is an all-electric battery-powered Class 8 semi-truck in development by Tesla, Inc. Two concept vehicles were unveiled in November 2017. Production was originally planned to begin in 2019, reaching 100,000 trucks per year by 2022. Production was later delayed until 2023. Elon Musk announced in August 2022 trucks will be available by the end of the year.
Ottomotto LLC, d/b/a Otto, was an American self-driving technology company founded in January 2016 by Lior Ron and Anthony Levandowski.
A self-driving truck, also known as an autonomous truck, or robo-truck, requires no human driver, similar to self-driving cars. Several companies are said to be testing autonomous technology in semi trucks.
Navya is a French company specialized in the design and construction of autonomous and electric vehicles.
Jérôme M. Guillen is a transport executive working in automotive manufacturing. He holds a Doctor of Engineering from the University of Michigan and has worked for Freightliner Trucks, Daimler AG and Tesla, Inc. Guillen previously studied in France at ENSTA Paris. Guillen worked at Tesla, Inc. for ten years between 2010 and 2021, including as President of Automotive, having previously led both the Tesla Model S and Tesla Semi manufacturing programmes.
 | This truck-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |