Daimler Trucks North America teams up with Microsoft to make Freightliner Cascadia the most connected ever

Daimler Trucks North America (DTNA) has announced new collaborations with AT&T and Microsoft to deliver further enhancements to its Detroit Connect suite of connected vehicle services.

DTNA is collaborating with Microsoft to establish a new cloud-based back office environment for all Detroit Connect services, including new features, such as Detroit Connect Remote Updates. The Microsoft Azure cloud platform will hep process the immense amounts of vehicle performance data generated in a secure way. AT&T will provide cellular service to Daimler Trucks in order to allow for Internet of Things connectivity features.

Dr. Wolfgang Bernhard, member of the Daimler AG board responsible for Trucks and Buses: “With about 400 000 connected vehicles worldwide, Daimler Trucks is by far the industry leader in connectivity. Our collaboration with technology leaders such as AT&T and Microsoft further enhance our ability to provide connectivity solutions to our customers in North America.”

Martin Daum, President and CEO of Daimler Trucks North America: “Daimler Trucks North America is an industry leader in innovative solutions and represents more than 40 percent of the long-haul trucking market in the NAFTA region. The Detroit Connect platform is a prime example of how Internet of Things connectivity can help improve efficiency, safety and performance in connected vehicles. Already today, more than 215 000 of our trucks in North America are online. With our new Cascadia this number will increase dramatically.”

The technology will find its first home in the new Freightliner Cascadia, Daimler’s most connected US-Truck ever.

DTNA presented its new flagship truck in the heavy-duty Class 8 market in September. The new Freightliner Cascadia sets new standards in fuel efficiency, safety technologies and latest connectivity solutions. In fact, it is the most connected truck Freightliner has ever built and sets the benchmark with an exclusively used platform. The new Detroit Connect Analytics provides users with on-demand, automated fuel efficiency and safety performance insights.

Microsoft has been partnering with car OEMs to develop next-generation mobility services for cars powered by Microsoft Azure, that will improve customer experiences such as personalization, advanced navigation, predictive services, remote monitoring of car features, external mobile experiences and over-the-air updates.

“While the connected car experience is in its infancy, we believe there’s so much potential to dramatically change the industry.” said Jean-Philippe Courtois, executive vice president and president, Microsoft Global Sales, Marketing and Operations.

The new DTNA connectivity platform will be available with start-of-production of the new Freightliner Cascadia in January 2017.