Mercedes-Benz previews Blind Spot Assist

The German manufacturer recently gave journalists a preview of the Blind Spot Assist safety system it's currently developing for trucks

Mercedes-Benz has given journalists an insight into the new Blind Spot Assist safety system it's currently developing for its truck range.

The Head of Global Product Engineering and Procurement at parent company Daimler Trucks, Sven Ennerst, took journalists through a demonstration and technical presentation for the new system at the Mercedes-Benz Trucks production facility in Worth, Germany, on Tuesday, September 2.

While blind spot systems in themselves aren't new – they've been available in the passenger car world for years and there are already commercial vehicle systems like Volvo's Lane Changing Support – the Mercedes-Benz system provides coverage for the entire passenger side of the truck and trailer combination and it works at all speeds, from turning from a standstill at an intersection to changing lanes on the highway at 100km/h.

Mercedes-Benz says the system has been under development for a number of years and is now about to enter an exhaustive evaluation phase.

"The development of Blind Spot Assist is now finished from a technological standpoint," said Mr Ennerst.

"At Daimler, we have always been concerned about trucks having collisions when turning corners. However, before we launch the system on the market, we first have to extensively test and validate it. This means that the system still has to undergo hundreds of thousands of kilometres of testing and to be adapted to a wide variety of vehicle variants."

Blind Spot Assist sees a radar system mounted in front of the truck's rear axle on the passenger side, the system constantly monitoring that entire side of the truck and trailer and to a distance of two metres in front of the prime mover.

The system provides two levels of warning to the driver. In the first stage, an orange LED warning triangle located on the passenger-side A-pillar is illuminated to alert the driver of any obstacle, either stationary or moving, situated in the radar's coverage. In the second stage, and if the system's sensors believe the truck's trajectory is risking an imminent collision, the LED warning light flashes red and is accompanied by a warning buzzer.

Mercedes-Benz says that in a busy urban environment the system will warn a driver of pedestrians, cyclists, signs or other roadside furniture when the vehicle is turning at an intersection, while it assists passenger-side lane changes at higher speeds, warning of any potential collision with another vehicle.

While fatalities and serious injuries in accidents involving heavy vehicles have fallen sharply over the last 15 years in line with the advent of modern electronic vehicle safety technologies, Mercedes-Benz cites the fact that, in Europe, every fifth pedestrian killed in an urban setting dies in a collision with a truck. In more than half of these accidents the collision occurs on the truck's passenger side, and that's a statistic it says it's hoping to address with Blind Spot Assist.

Mercedes-Benz previews Blind Spot Assist

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