Autonomous Actros unveiled

Daimler has made yet another stride towards an autonomous transport future, with its Mercedes-Benz brand unveiling and then testing an autonomous series-production truck on Germany's A8 autobahn.

Mercedes-Benz first unveiled its Future Truck 2025 in Germany in July 2014 while sibling Daimler brand Freightliner revealed its Inspiration truck in the USA in May this year. The Future Truck 2025 was demonstrated in a closed trial while the Inspiration truck was the first truck to be granted road registration, with that vehicle then tested on the highways of Nevada.

Both, however, are concept trucks, while the truck at the centre of this latest reveal is a production vehicle.

The Mercedes-Benz Actros unveiled in Germany on Friday, October 2, is fitted with Daimler's Highway Pilot – the autonomous driving technology that features in both the Future Truck 2025 and the Inspiration truck.

The system comprises a front-mounted radar and a stereo camera, along with Mercedes-Benz's Adaptive Cruise Control +. The technology allows the truck to maintain a set distance to the vehicle in front while also keeping its position within its lane, thereby allowing the driver to simply monitor its progress rather than actually drive the vehicle.

The Highway Pilot-equipped Actros was demonstrated on Germany's A8 autobahn between Denkendorf and Stuttgart, with the historic journey made by Daimler Executive Board member Dr Wolfgang Bernhard (pictured, driver's side) and Baden-Wurttemberg's Minister-President, Winfried Kretschmann (pictured, passenger side).

The Actros in question was granted "exceptional permission" by German authorities to be used on a public road, while Minister-President Kretschmann said the German state of Baden-Wurttemberg was developing a legislative framework for wider testing of autonomous vehicles and 'intelligent' infrastructure.

The Actros fitted with the Highway Pilot is powered by a 12.8-litre OM 471 engine. It was also fitted with Mercedes-Benz's PowerShift 3 AMT transmission, Predictive Powertrain Control (PPC), Active Brake Assist 3, proximity control, drowsiness detection and a Fleetboard vehicle computer. Daimler says all these systems are linked to the Highway Pilot, and so the truck does not require internet access for automated driving.

This latest trial comes after a number of journalists first sampled Freightliner's Inspiration truck in Nevada recently.

Dr Bernhard said Friday's journey brought the reality of autonomous road freight one step closer.

"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," he said.

"During the world premiere of our Freightliner Inspiration truck in the USA in May, we announced that the Highway Pilot would soon also be tested on German roads – and just five months later we have achieved this interim goal.

"I am most grateful to the state government of Baden-Wurttemberg, which has given us so much active support in this undertaking. 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."

Daimler stresses that the technology is not designed to replace the driver, but to remove some of the strain from the driving task by taking over during highway travel. It says the system has numerous safety nets to prevent accidents – for example, should sensors fail or weather conditions deteriorate to a point that the system can no longer accurately read the road, a series of alerts will prompt the driver to resume control. If he or she fails to do so, the truck will then safely slow to a complete stop by the side of the road.

Daimler says it's conducted over 20,000 kilometres of testing of the Highway Pilot so far, on both German and US roads.

The Highway Pilot system has the potential to unlock numerous benefits, says Daimler. Safety is increased because the Highway Pilot is always 100 per cent focussed and cannot be distracted, unlike a human. Furthermore, the system optimises gear shifting, acceleration and braking to maximise fuel efficiency, which subsequently reduces CO2 emissions.

In the networked future, vehicles will communicate with each other and infrastructure to aid traffic flow and minimise congestion, also boosting fuel economy.

"We are in a unique position among manufacturers in that we are able to implement leading technologies across all business units and brands," said Dr Bernhard.

"This means that we can drive innovation forward all around the globe. Our claim is 'Shaping Future Transportation'. And with today's premiere we are once again impressively backing up this claim."

Daimler says attention must now focus on the legislative changes required to usher in the era of autonomous vehicles. With its special permission, the Actros demonstrated last Friday can now be driven on public roads throughout Germany at speeds of up to 80km/h.

"We will be making extensive use of this opportunity to test our Highway Pilot in real traffic conditions," Dr Bernhard said.

However, Dr Bernhard says German authorities must now create a regulatory framework that allows such vehicles to be tested without special permission, while the EU must also make the necessary legislative changes to embrace the technology.