Technology/Autonomous Vehicles

An Autonomous Mercedes-Benz Convoy

by Frédérick Boucher-Gaulin
Mercedes-Benz Actros
Photo: Mercedes-Benz

Mercedes-Benz, like a lot of other manufacturers, wants to be the first to offer an autonomous vehicle. Not only are they working on furthering technologies in their passenger cars, but the German automaker is also using its truck division to explore other avenues.

One of these possible applications could be useful for the trucking industry: by using an array of sensors, cameras and receivers, trucks can "talk" to each other and drive in a convoy. To prove their tech, Mercedes-Benz sent three Actros trucks on Germany’s roads.

These trucks passed through numerous towns, riding on the highway without any driver input (although they still had to be in the cabin for driving through town). Thanks to V2V technology, the Actros' were following each other less than 15 metres apart. This enables interesting fuel economy numbers: Mercedes-Benz announces that their Actros are 10% more fuel efficient.

The brand also joined the European Truck Platooning Challenge 2016, which is organized by the Netherlands' government. This initiative aims to make manufacturers join forces and regularize V2V technologies.

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