Daimler Tests Self-Driving Truck on German Highway
October 2nd, 2015Via: AFP:
German automaker Daimler said it trialled a self-driving truck under real traffic conditions for the first time Friday, on a motorway in southern Germany.
The truck has smart systems including radars, cameras and active speed regulators and works without a human driver — although one has to be in the driver’s seat and take the wheel if necessary.
The standard Mercedes-Benz Actros, fitted with the intelligent “Highway Pilot” system, travelled 14 kilometres (about nine miles) on the A8 motorway, with a driver in the cabin but his hands off the wheel.
“Today’s premiere is a further important step towards the market maturity of autonomously driving trucks -– and towards the safe, sustainable road freight transport of the future,” said Wolfgang Bernhard, board member responsible for Daimler Trucks and Buses.
“Safe testing in real traffic is absolutely decisive for the development of this technology to market maturity. We are now able to proceed with this,” said Bernhard, who sat in the driver’s seat for the test.
Daimler unveiled the technology in May in the US state of Nevada, on the iconic Hoover Dam, an hour’s drive from Las Vegas.
The truck in Friday’s trial, the world’s first series-production autonomous truck, drove between Stuttgart and the town of Denkendorf in the southwestern state of Baden-Wuerttemberg, where Daimler is headquartered.
A totally self-driving truck, without the need for human monitoring, is still a long way off.
