German auto giant Daimler AG’s trucks unit, Daimler Truck, has announced that it is opening an innovation and technology development centre in Bengaluru, India. The R&D centre will be the truckmaker’s biggest outside North America and its base in Germany. Daimler has stated that the facility will push technology innovation for Daimler Truck across the world. This will include a range of vehicles like Mercedes-Benz Trucks, Freightliner, Western Star, Thomas Built Buses, Fuso, Bharat Benz and EvoBus GmbH. 

The new R&D centre will be the main focal point to drive two of Daimler’s main ambitions: to gradually shift towards zero-emission commercial vehicles like EVs and hydrogen-powered vehicles and introduce more innovations in its software and electronics. 

While Daimler-owned Mercedes-Benz has had an R&D centre in Bengaluru itself since 1996, Daimler Truck R&D units will now fall under a new entity called Daimler Truck Innovation Centre India (DTICI). This is because of Daimler’s split into Daimler Truck and Mercedes-Benz last year. 

Chairman of DTICI and head of the company’s software electronics production division, Thomas Ulm, said that Bengaluru had always been an appropriate home to progress in IT and technology. The city offers benefits like cheap cost of labour and a high-quality workforce who possess English-speaking skills, due to which it became the obvious choice for DTICI.