Autonomous Trucking Tech Hits High Gear

While some developers of autonomous trucking technology have stalled out, there’s renewed energy to deliver augmented ADAS and automated driving systems to mass production.

April 1, 2025

Matt Wolfe

Aurora, Continental and Nvidia announced at CES 2025 a strategic partnership to produce SAE Level 4 autonomous driving systems at scale for trucks. (Aurora)

After a tumultuous 2023 that saw several autonomous trucking startups pivot out of or exit the arena entirely, there has been a recent resurgence of investment and efforts to bring the vision of driverless freight fleets to reality.

Knorr-Bremse continues development of automated driving systems for commercial vehicles using versions of existing hardware with additional redundancies. (Knorr Bremse)

In the wake of firms like Embark, TuSimple and Waymo scaling back or rolling up operations, Aurora, Continental and Knorr-Bremse have all announced continued development of SAE Level 4 systems with the intention to deploy trucks using these systems at scale. OEMs such as Volvo have also announced updates to existing technologies that will augment current advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS) to help human drivers become safer behind the wheel.

While it remains to be seen whether any of these systems will finally commercialize the concept, the continual march of technological development is making progress towards that goal.

Reinforcement of redundancies

Knorr-Bremse is developing a version of its commercial-truck electric power steering system with additional redundancies for SAE Level 4 operation. (Knorr Bremse)

In September 2024, Knorr-Bremse announced that it intended to “press ahead” with development of its automated driving system for trucks. The company will reportedly provide advanced redundancy architectures for braking, steering and energy management systems. Knorr-Bremse also stated that it is focusing on redundant actuator technology for SAE Level 4 systems.

“Knorr-Bremse is systematically bringing its redundancy solutions for trucks to market maturity,” said Bernd Spies, member of the executive board of Knorr-Bremse AG. “With our extensive experience, we have the in-depth knowledge and skills required to create multiply redundant systems for braking, steering and power supply systems, and so enable our customers to achieve SAE Level 4 automation.”

Spies continued, “We’re already able to deliver high levels of safety and system availability for trucks operating at automation levels 2 through 4. We’re looking to contact our customers at the earliest possible stage to discuss possible use cases and how we can best customize our redundancy concepts for them.

The Aurora Driver computer reportedly performs up to 5,400 TOPS (Tera Operations Per Second), reducing latency and power consumption for fast, efficient processing. (Aurora)

“A good example – with real-world applicability – is our involvement in the ATLAS-L4 joint development project. Here, we’re contributing the redundant braking system architecture, which includes steering redundancy based on steer-by-brake technology. We also developed the accompanying safety concept, and the prototype truck is already undergoing successful test track trials.”

In Knorr-Bremse’s view, increasing automation requires additional system redundancy, which is logical considering the implementation of these technologies will shift most operator responsibilities from human to machine. It is the firm’s belief that for automated driving to be successful, vehicles must demonstrate high levels of reliability and availability, which requires robust fail-safes. The company has developed, and is preparing for market launch, several products to accomplish this goal.

Knorr-Bremse’s redundant Global Scalable Brake Control system (rGSBC) has a modular design that combines several different components used in conventional brake control systems into a single brake control platform. The simplified system layouts reportedly save on components, weight and installation costs. This approach also prioritizes the reuse of existing components and limits the number of modified or new system modules.

Volvo Trucks says its latest pedestrian detection system exceeds upcoming regulations for commercial vehicles. (Volvo)

The company is also developing a redundant version of its electric power steering system. The new rEPS will offer fail-safe steering functionality where both the electric motor and electronic control system (hardware and software) are designed with built-in redundancy. The rEPS will be combined with steer-by-brake functionality that introduces another level of redundancy. According to Knorr-Bremse, this combination will enable self-driving vehicles to autonomously complete their missions even in the event of critical failures.

Another system under development is a redundant Power Management System (rPMS). Knorr-Bremse states that “as the number of onboard electrical systems grows, trucks need more energy, as well as an onboard electrical system architecture that meets the latest safety requirements.” The rPMS will reportedly ensure that sufficient power is supplied to safety-critical systems as well as the sensors required for automated driving. Two independent power supply circuits operating in fail-safe mode guarantee system performance and safety levels are maintained.

Volvo Trucks has continued development of augmented ADAS to make progress towards its end goal of zero fatalities involving Volvo trucks. (Volvo)

A Truck Motion Controller (TMC) will further optimize longitudinal and lateral driving dynamics by combining all the actuators actively involved in vehicle dynamics (braking, steering and drive units) so that they are all managed at the same execution level. The controller operates by translating general driving commands into commands for the individual actuators, thereby simplifying the interface with the virtual driver. Aware of vehicle-specific characteristics and limits, the system will ensure that the vehicle stays under control even in critical driving situations. The TMC can also detect and manage possible actuator faults or failures and offset them by combining other actuators.

In addition to SAE Level 4 technologies, Knorr-Bremse is also developing ADAS to assist human pilots such as its Fusion Front system, which uses a combination of front camera and radar to detect complex traffic conditions and relevant objects. Additional functions include the Pedestrian Advanced Emergency Braking system, lane keeping assist and automatic emergency braking.

A three-pronged approach

Aurora, Continental and Nvidia announced in January a long-term strategic partnership to deploy driverless trucks at scale. Nvidia’s Drive Thor and DriveOS will be integrated into the Aurora Driver, an SAE L4 autonomous driving system that Continental plans to mass-manufacture in 2027.

“Delivering one driverless truck will be monumental. Deploying thousands will change the way we live,” said Chris Urmson, CEO and co-founder at Aurora. “Nvidia is the market leader in accelerated computing, and they’ll strengthen our ecosystem of partners and our ability to deliver safe and reliable driverless trucks to our customers at scale.”

“Developing, industrializing and manufacturing powerful self-driving hardware at commercial scale requires unique and unparalleled expertise,” said Aruna Anand, president and CEO, Automotive, Continental North America. “Our industry-first collaboration with Aurora and Nvidia to deliver driverless trucks positions Continental at the forefront of this cutting-edge technology and will drive value to our business.”

Nvidia will power the primary computer of the Aurora Driver with a dual Nvidia Drive Thor SoC configuration that runs DriveOS. (Nvidia)

Aurora claims that they are in the final stages of validating the Aurora Driver for driverless operations on public roads. Aurora Driver operates via lidar, radar and cameras, enabling it to operate at highway speeds. Implementation of Verifiable AI reportedly enables the Aurora Driver to quickly adapt to new operating domains while being validated through Aurora’s Safety Case. Aurora plans to launch its driverless trucking service in Texas in April 2025 and intends to manufacture self-driving hardware with Continental at scale in 2027.

Nvidia will power the primary computer of the Aurora Driver with a dual Nvidia Drive Thor SoC configuration that runs DriveOS. Drive Thor is built on the Nvidia Blackwell architecture and is designed to accelerate inference tasks critical for autonomous vehicles to understand and navigate the world around them.

Continental is taking on the development of a reliable, serviceable, cost-efficient generation of the Aurora Driver hardware, specifically for high-volume manufacturing. The company is also reportedly developing a specialized independent secondary system that can take over operation if a failure occurs in the primary Aurora Driver computer.

Continental plans to test prototypes of the future hardware kit in the coming months. It will then integrate Drive Thor with DriveOS into the primary Aurora Driver computer at its manufacturing facilities and ship the full hardware kit to Aurora’s truck OEM partners for integration into customers’ trucks.

Bridging the gap

In pursuit of its ultimate goal of a zero-accident future, Volvo Trucks has continued development of its active safety systems to protect pedestrians. One of the latest advancements is to Volvo’s Active Side Collision Avoidance Support.

This system is described as an evolution of an existing safety system, but now with an active brake function. Using radar sensors to detect approaching cyclists, the system can warn the driver and if necessary, actively apply the truck’s brakes to avoid a collision when turning towards the passenger side.

“At Volvo Trucks, we are constantly working to improve our trucks’ safety performance to protect both the driver and other road users,” Anna Wrige Berling, traffic and product safety director at Volvo Trucks. “This safety system, aimed at protecting cyclists in the city environment, represents one of our latest innovations which will take us one step closer to our long-term vision of zero accidents involving Volvo trucks.”

The Active Side Collision Avoidance Support system is available for customers to order as of November 2024 in the Volvo FH range, FM and FMX models in all markets globally.

Another ADAS technology that Volvo Trucks recently announced is its next-generation Collision Warning with Emergency Brake. This system was first introduced in 2012 and has been continuously improved ever since. It uses both camera and radar sensors to monitor the traffic ahead of the truck and if a risk for a collision is detected, the system is designed to warn the driver, and if necessary, automatically brake to avoid or mitigate the collision.

The latest improvements enable the system to detect, warn and brake not just for other vehicles but also for pedestrians and cyclists. It has been certified to meet the new European legislation for Advanced Emergency Brake Systems that will go into effect in 2028. Volvo also claims that this system exceeds the coming regulations in terms of the traffic situations it is designed to cover.

“We are happy to see that legal requirements are implemented in line with our own vision of zero accidents,” Berling said. “However, at Volvo we will not wait for legislation – we will continue to innovate and exceed legal requirements with new functions to support our own ambitious targets.”

The autobrake system is standard equipment in Europe on all FH series, FM and FMX trucks as of 2025 and available as an option globally.

On the horizon

Historically, the commercial truck industry had been one of the slower sectors to adapt to new technologies due to factors such as cost concerns from fleet owners, resistance to new systems from operators and other factors. However, over the past decade the trucking industry has rapidly become one of the leaders in the development and implementation of ADAS and autonomous driving systems.

While the commercial success of these SAE Level 4 systems is far from guaranteed, they are closer to fruition than they have been at any point in time. The commercial truck industry has undergone a massive shift in engineering priorities to develop the software required to operate these vehicles in all aspects.

At NTEA’s Green Truck Summit that preceded the annual Work Truck Week tradeshow, one executive of a major automotive OEM stated, “When I started in this business twenty years ago, the split in engineering between mechanical engineers and electrical or software engineers was about 80/20. Now that ratio has been completely flipped.”

Ironically, many of the factors that kept these technologies out of trucks in the past are now being demanded by various fleet owners thanks to the cost savings they present due to accident prevention. Time will tell if these systems can ever get “over the hump.” But if the past half-decade is any indicator of future progress, the sun may finally be cresting on widespread acceptance and implementation of these systems for commercial trucks.