September 18, 2019 Vol. 16 No. 19

It’s outright war out there as Daimler and Volvo trade punches on the technology front. A month ago Daimler Trucks North America officially handed over the keys to two Freightliner eCascadia battery-electric tractors, road-ready, one to Penske and the other to NFI Industries, both fleets working in California. Volvo announced late last year that it was developing electric VNR tractors for California port duty, ironically with one one or more trucks destined for NFI as well. I wrote about that project in my last newsletter. Last week the Swedish outfit offered journalists a sneak peek at that truck.

Both companies promise to have quite a few electric trucks on California roads next year. That said, we haven’t heard a lot about the requisite charging infrastructure.

Earlier in the year DTNA announced it was about to build and sell New Cascadia tractors with Level 2 autonomous capability, based on features including a Detroit Assurance 5.0 suite of camera and radar systems.

Level 2 is defined as partially automated driving — in suitable scenarios, the system performs part of the dynamic driving task, driving the vehicle laterally and longitudinally. It disengages immediately upon driver request. The driver continuously monitors the system and takes over the delegated tasks again, if required.

The Cascadia’s automation capabilities combine automatic braking when spotting pedestrians and cyclists in a truck’s path, lane-keeping assistance that applies automatic steering corrections, and adaptive cruise control that will even re-apply the accelerator if the cruise control needs to stop the truck for less than two seconds.

Active lane assist will make gentle steering adjustments to keep the truck centered in its lane when adaptive cruise control is enabled. And if the new Cascadia drifts out of a lane without engaging the turn signal, the truck will automatically countersteer and sound a rumble-strip-style warning.

Active Brake Assist 5.0 fuses the Detroit Assurance 5.0 camera and radar system to detect moving pedestrians and cyclists – as well as other moving and stationary vehicles and objects in front of the truck — and will fully deploy engine retarders and foundation brakes if needed.

VOLVO HASN’T GONE THAT FAR, and it’s not Level 2 autonomy, but this past June the company announced that its Volvo Active Driver Assist (VADA) 2.0 comprehensive collision-mitigation system will be made standard on new Volvo VNR and VNL models and available on VNX trucks later this year.