Mercedes Aims At Having Autonomous Trucks On Highways By 2025 | TechTree.com

Mercedes Aims At Having Autonomous Trucks On Highways By 2025

The technology used on the trucks is similar to what's already available on the 2014 S-Class.

 

Mercedes-Benz recently demonstrated its 'Future Truck 2025' semi-autonomous vehicle concept, that will free drivers from controlling trucks on highways. Using technology that is very similar to its self-driving car efforts, the company claims it will be ready for the road in the next ten years.

In many ways autonomous trucks make a lot more sense than their passenger ferrying counterparts. For one it will free long haul drivers from their monotony, improve safety and even efficiency. More importantly however, trucks spend most of their time on the highway, meaning systems don't have to be as advanced as those required for navigating chaotic city roads.

The Future Truck 2025 uses a combination of radars and a stereo camera to keep the vehicle on the road. The system is very similar to what the current generation flagship S-Class saloon already uses, except on a full sized truck. While the company has set itself a goal of achieving this by 2025, don't expect the vehicles to be devoid of drivers anytime soon.

Mercedes-Benz's plans for self-driving trucks comes just under a month after Dutch officials unveiled a plan that called for autonomous trucks within the next five years. While the company's plans may not be as ambitious when it comes to the time period, it certainly is more realistic.

Apart from scanning the road ahead to avoid obstacles, overtake vehicles, and other mundane self-driving operations, Mercedes says the trucks could communicate with each other. This could greatly increase efficiency by warning the vehicle of upcoming traffic jams or move out of the way of an approaching ambulance.

[See also: Move Over Self-Driving Car; The Dutch Want Driverless Trucks]

Another huge undertaking for the company will be to make the system commercially viable. Buyers of cars may splurge on the odd extra, but not truck operators. Mercedes will have to justify the extra expense of a self-driving truck over a regular one by showing significant gains in efficiency or time-saving or both.

Ultimately we should see the cost of self-driving vehicles coming down because of their development for commercial purposes rather than personal one. It's similar to how Google could be looking at an autonomous taxi service rather than a car people could buy, in an attempt to really drive down the costs of the technology.


TAGS: Mercedes-Benz, self-driving vehicles, Future Truck 2025, Google

 
News Corner
IMP IMP IMP
##