Reuters -- German carmaker Daimler is planning to test self-driving trucks as early as this year, executive board member Wolfgang Bernhard told a German newspaper.

"We are positive that we will get approval for tests on German motorways within the next weeks," Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung quoted him as saying. "Then we will start immediately."

First tests of semi-autonomous trucks will take place in Daimler's home state Baden-Wuerttemberg while the start of production is 2-3 years away, Bernhard, who is in charge of Daimler's trucks business, told the paper.

"We are leaders in this technology and will stand up for ourselves," Bernhard said, acknowledging that Apple, Google and other companies were trying to position themselves in the promising business of autonomous driving.

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