Torc Robotics, a subsidiary of Daimler Trucks, is an American autonomous vehicle company headquartered in Blacksburg, Virginia. Torc produces unmanned and autonomous technology that retrofits to existing machinery and vehicles. Its custom products, software and automation kits have been used on vehicles in several industries, including military, mining agriculture, and automotive over the last decade. Through 2014, 50 percent of Torc's revenue came from defense work and the rest from commercial customers. Some of its end users include the United States Department of Defense, the U.S. Marines, Air Force Research Labs, Caterpillar, and DCD Protected Mobility.
History
In 2005, the company was founded by a group of Virginia Techgraduate students including Michael Fleming, the current CEO. Torc partnered with Virginia Tech to compete in the 2007 Urban Challenge, hosted by the Department of Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. Teams were challenged to build a fully autonomous vehicle that could travel 60 miles of urban and off-road environments in less than six hours. Torc's Ford Escape vehicle, named Odin, placed third out of 35 competing teams, winning the $500,000 prize. The other top-2 finishers included Tartan Racing, of Carnegie Mellon University and General Motors Corp., and the Stanford Racing Team. In 2010, Torc partnered with a robotics team at Virginia Tech to develop a vehicle for the National Federation of the Blind's Blind Driver Challenge. The team received the National Instruments’ 2010 Application of the Year for the project. Using a Ford Escape, Torc implemented its ByWire drive-by-wire conversion modules, Safestop wireless emergency stop system, and PowerHub distribution modules on the vehicle. On January 29, 2011, a blind driver independently drove Torc's vehicle down the main straightaway, onto the road course at the Daytona Speedway. In 2012, Torc researchers participated in the DARPA Robotics Challenge with Team ViGIR. The program challenged teams to develop robotic software and hardware capabilities to support first responders. The team made it to the finale. Torc's technology is currently being used in military applications in various parts of the world. One such vehicle is GUSS an autonomous vehicle used to carry equipment for the Marines. Torc has also developed an advanced sensor fusion system for the Department of Defense that is used to increase high-speed obstacle detection, classification and prediction. In 2012, Torc's autonomous vehicle for Air Force Research Labs demonstrated its ability to perform expedient runway surveys, collect soil hardness measurements, provide terrain date and report hazards to flight. Torc developed a remote control solution for hazardous mining areas. The team replicated the cab of a 240-ton haul truck and developed a teleoperated control system to allow operators to teleoperate the haul truck from a safe distance away. Torc participated in a successful five-vehicle platoon test in 2015 with the U.S. Federal Highway Administration ’s Saxton Transportation Operations Laboratory. The test was conducted on an inactive naval air base in Willow Grove, Pennsylvania. In July, 2017, Torc was the first company that registered with Washington state’s Autonomous VehiclePilot Program permit to perform a certified test with its self-driving car in Washington. On July 26, 2017, one of Torc's self-driving cars completed a cross country trip, with over 4,300 miles driven autonomously. The team completed the trip in Richmond, Virginia, where they were greeted by Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe. Torc announced two major partnerships in 2018. The company will work with to help the Chinese electric car manufacturer develop its line of self-driving vehicles. Torc also announced a partnership with Transdev to deploy fully in France. On March 29, 2019, Daimler AG through its subsidiary Daimler Trucks North America announced that it would acquire a majority stake in TORC Robotics for an undisclosed amount.
