Mercedes shows truck with technology that lets you drive alone

A Daimler AG, controller of Mercedes-Benz, showed a concept truck with technology that aims to revolutionize road freight transport in the world.

Baptized “Future Truck 2025” the truck may disappoint those who are most enthusiastic about having very conventional exterior lines, with small updated details, such as cameras instead of mirrors and LEDs instead of headlights. But it's in the cabin and in use that the changes really catch the eye.

The truck drives itself on the roads and the driver is invited to relax and rest on board, rotate his chair 45 degrees and read comfortably while cruising long distances. When approaching the exit from the road, the system alerts the driver so that he can take the wheel again and can, if necessary, enter a controlled emergency stop mode.

So far it is just a prototype, but the factory is betting high that it will be able to launch the vehicle commercially within the next decade.

Autonomous equipment is no longer new, there are known military and agricultural uses and should be available for passenger vehicles around 2020, however, the possibility of extending this technology to heavy cargo transport had not yet been considered.

Driving on the roads is a risky task for human beings due to the attention and concentration required for long periods and the fatigue that this causes in drivers.

In fact, regulating the workday and especially the rest of these professionals has been a constant task of authorities around the world, including here in Brazil.

Based on this realization and the perception that driving on highways is easy for computers, because “there are no pedestrians or cyclists to worry about, speeds are constant and curves are minimal” (they don’t know our roads…) Mercedes has arrived. to the concept: “humans who drive less cause less problems".

The "Truck of the Future 2025” is equipped with an automated system, called “Highway Pilot”, something like road pilot in a free translation. According to Dr. Wolfgang Bernhard, member of the Daimler committee for trucks and buses, the system is much safer, because “he is never tired, he is always one hundred percent active and attentive. He is never irritated, he is never distracted.”

A set of combined technologies will keep the truck in the driving lane and at a safe distance from other vehicles through telemetry, cameras and radars that have been distributed to cover the entire perimeter of the truck and everything around it.

Additionally, as an information redundancy, the communication between vehicles will be able to connect the truck to other vehicles that will be on the road and inform the exact location of each one helping to anticipate speed reductions in front of obstacles or release of the taxiway for ambulances. and other service vehicles, for example.

To complete the equipment, the trailer will be the aerodynamic version presented by Mercedes in 2012, which reduces fuel consumption by up to five percent.

In the end, it is important to emphasize that all the technologies used in the prototype are already mature and available, but the Mercedes-Benz wants to be sure about data security and systems reliability before actually putting the autonomous truck on the market.

Now you can dream of walking past your mother's house and saying: "look mommy, no hands!" in a safe and controlled way.