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Through the collaboration, Torc will establish a presence within Mila’ s ecosystem in Montreal, becoming the only autonomous trucking company to join the institute. The move gives Torc access to academic talent including students, researchers and faculty members working across artificial intelligence, robotics and advanced machine learning disciplines.

The partnership includes dedicated research space on site and is intended to build on Torc’ s existing AI and autonomy research programs. Torc said the collaboration will deepen its capabilities in physical AI through direct engagement with Mila researchers and faculty members focused on emerging technologies and autonomous systems development.

Mila is internationally recognized for its contributions to machine learning and applied AI research, with strong links to leading universities across Canada. The institute has also become known for developing AI talent, with alumni and affiliates taking leadership positions at companies including OpenAI and Google.

By operating within Mila’ s collaborative environment, Torc plans to expand its research capabilities in areas including generative world models, multi-agent behavior modelling, reinforcement learning and foundation models designed for physical AI systems used in autonomous vehicles and transportation applications.

“ Torc is focused on building safe, scalable autonomous trucks, and advancing the next generation of physical AI is central to that mission,” said Felix Heide, Head of Artificial Intelligence, Torc.“ As a long-time Mila collaborator, I can definitively say that partnering enables deeper collaboration at the intersection of research and real-world deployment, collaboration that supports continued progress toward commercializing autonomous trucking at scale.”

“ We are excited to welcome Torc as an industry partner, as it becomes an even stronger component of Mila’ s ecosystem,” said Christopher Pal, Core Academic Member at Mila, Scientific Co-Director of IVADO and Professor at Polytechnique Montréal.“ This partnership brings together academic excellence and realworld deployment, creating opportunities for our students and researchers to work on impactful challenges in physical AI while advancing the state of the art in autonomous systems.”

The agreement builds on Torc’ s existing presence in Montreal and an affiliation with Mila dating back to 2020, reinforcing the company’ s investment in global AI research partnerships and talent development initiatives.

Together, Torc and Mila will explore approaches to physical AI that bridge simulation and real-world performance, supporting efforts to improve the safety, efficiency and scalability of autonomous transportation technologies for commercial freight operations.

“ As autonomous vehicle technology becomes closer to a reality, it is exciting and important to see new collaborations between academic labs and top tier companies that are bringing the technology to market,” said Liam Paull, a Core Academic Member at Mila, a Canada CIFAR AI Chair and an Associate Professor at Université de Montréal, where he co-leads the Montréal Robotics and Embodied AI Lab.

The partnership also highlights collaboration between academic AI institutions and autonomous vehicle technology developers. •

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