BLACKSBURG — Torc Robotics completed an expansion that doubled the size of its headquarters in the Blacksburg Industrial Park, the company recently announced.
Torc, a developer of self-driving vehicle systems and one of the New River Valley’s flagship technology companies, added nearly 16,000 square feet with the expansion. The expanded facility is two stories tall and its features — in addition to office space — include community rooms, garage bays and parking.
Torc and Daimler Trucks have an automated truck development partnership and have a commitment to commercialize so-called Level 4 automated trucks within the decade.
Daimler Trucks is a division of the corporation best known for brands such as Freightliner, Mercedes-Benz and Smart.
“After embarking on the truck effort, we immediately needed more space for our growing team to collaborate and for the big trucks in our garage bays,” Torc CEO Michael Fleming said.
Torc’s expansion marks just one of the recent developments at the company, which announced a few months ago that it planned to grow in size by more than 50% by year’s end.
“This is just the start,” Fleming said. “Over the next several years, we will be hiring aggressively … Commercializing automated trucks on public roads is complex and we will need additional talent to get us there.”