Mercedes-Benz Actros with Highway Pilot - World Premiere on Public Roads
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- Mercedes-Benz Actros with Highway Pilot is the first series-production truck to drive on a partially automated basis on the motorway
- Highway Pilot: more alert and attentive than any driver
- Shaping Future Transportation: Daimler Trucks focuses its attention on transport of the future
- Automated driving functions promote safety and efficiency in road traffic
STUTTGART -- Oct. 2, 2015: On the A8 between Denkendorf and
Stuttgart airport Daimler Trucks is today having the world's first
series-production truck to operate on an automated basis drive on the
motorway. Together with the state of Baden-Württemberg's Prime Minister
Winfried Kretschmann, Dr Wolfgang Bernhard, Board Member of Daimler AG
responsible for Trucks and Buses, is undertaking the maiden journey in the
Mercedes-Benz Actros with Highway Pilot system.
With this permit the truck is allowed to drive on motorways
on an automated basis. The truck used for the premiere is a standard
Mercedes-Benz Actros equipped with the intelligent Highway Pilot system for
this test of autonomous driving on public roads. The truck is approved as a
test vehicle in accordance with §19/6 StVZO (German road traffic type
approval law). The Rhineland German Technical Inspection Authority had
inspected the vehicle and issued an expert opinion. On this basis the
Baden-Württemberg regional council granted an exemption in accordance with
§70 StVZO.
„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 Daimler Board Member Dr
Bernhard.
Sven Ennerst, Head of
Development Daimler Trucks, commented: „We are delighted that
Baden-Württemberg has approved these tests for us. In so doing the state is
demonstrating true pioneering spirit. And we are of course also delighted
that the German Technical Inspection Authority has so clearly confirmed the
safety of our system.“
The
multi-sensor fusion, i.e. the combination of proven new-generation
assistance and safety systems and sensors, enables the truck with the
Highway Pilot system to continually observe the entire area in front of the
vehicle and to take control itself in certain situations. This gives
Dr Wolfgang Bernhard the opportunity to take his hands off the wheel
without incurring any risks.
Dr Wolfgang
Bernhard drives the Mercedes-Benz Actros from the service station onto the
motorway towards Karlsruhe. As soon as the truck has entered the flowing
traffic in the right-hand lane, it's „Highway Pilot On“ and the
system now offers to take over vehicle operation. The driver can confirm at
the press of a button. The Actros meticulously keeps to its lane and
maintains the optimum distance to the vehicle in front of it. Should the
distance become too small or if a vehicle cuts in front of it, the truck
brakes. Both vehicle occupants are sitting comfortably in the functional
and modern cab and are chatting in a relaxed fashion.
At the airport/trade fair exit the system again asks
Wolfgang Bernhard to take control and the truck reverts from automated
driving mode to manual control – „Highway Pilot Off“. He
steers the Actros off the motorway and then drives directly back onto the
A8 again, this time in the opposite direction. The scenario is exactly the
same: the Actros steers and brakes independently in the flowing motorway
traffic.
If it approaches an obstacle,
such as roadworks here on the A8, the system asks the driver to take over
the vehicle. If the roadworks are behind the truck, the Highway Pilot can
once again take over control of the vehicle. The system safely assists both
occupants up to the Wendlingen exit. Here Wolfgang Bernhard again takes
over the driving and steers the truck off the motorway.
The machine is a safer driver than any human being
The Mercedes-Benz Actros is
fitted with the 12.8 l engine, OM 471 and all the proven
assistance and safety systems, such as Mercedes PowerShift 3,
Predictive Powertrain Control (PPC), Active Brake Assist 3, proximity
control, drowsiness detection and a Fleetboard vehicle computer. These
systems are linked with the sensors of the Highway Pilot – radar and
stereo camera. So all the technology of the Actros with Highway Pilot is in
the vehicle, and the truck does not need the internet for its automated
driving function. The system is ideal for the motorway: it maintains the
correct distance to the vehicle in front and brakes in good time if another
vehicle cuts out onto the road in front of it. The Highway Pilot does not
replace the driver, but supports and relieves the strain on them by dealing
with monotonous stretches for them and taking care of annoying stop-and-go
driving in a traffic jam. In automated mode the driver has control over the
truck at all times and in tricky situations can take over driving of the
vehicle again. The redundancy in the sensor system and fail-safer
components such as the steering and brakes ensure an extremely high safety
standard. If the minimum prerequisites for the system are not present due
to bad weather or missing road markings, the Highway Pilot issues acoustic
and visual impulses to ask the driver to take over. The driver has
sufficient time to take over the task of driving. If there is no reaction
from the driver, the truck brings itself to a standstill independently and
safely.
Around two thirds of all
accidents in road traffic are rear-end collisions and accidents resulting
from unintentionally leaving the lane. Often the causes are drowsiness,
distraction and driving errors. This is where the Highway Pilot is superior
to any human being. It is alert, concentrated and relaxed. Without
exception, round the clock, seven days a week.
Today Daimler Trucks is already developing
solutions for the transport of tomorrow
The growing transport volume has an enormous influence on
changes in the world of traffic. As a pioneer in the automotive industry
Daimler is taking responsibility and is constantly working on ways of
meeting the complex challenges of traffic density, bottlenecks and cost
pressures in the transport sector.
Long-distance transport trucks in particular are
predestined for autonomous driving. It enables a considerable increase in
the efficiency of the transport sector, especially through the reduction in
TCO. Increasing road safety and cutting fuel consumption are hugely
important aspects in particular in long-distance transport.
A long-distance transport truck drives an average of
130,000 km per annum. The autonomously driving truck supports the
driver by taking care of monotonous stretches of road and tiring
stop-and-go traffic in a tailback for them. Tests carried out by Daimler
Research on the driver's condition during automated driving have proven
that the driver takes longer to become tired as a result of this relief.
Their attention rate is around 25 percent higher than when driving in
the conventional Actros if they have the opportunity to attend to other
tasks.
Connectivity increasing in
importance in the traffic of the future
The use of digital networks in traffic is on the threshold
of a major development. Connectivity means not only the combination of all
assistance, safety and telematics systems with the new sensor systems; it
also encompasses intelligent networking between vehicles themselves and
with the transport infrastructure. If a truck is informed at an early stage
about traffic incidents occurring far in front of or behind it, appropriate
action can be taken. This means that in autonomous driving mode the
handling adapts to the characteristics of the route ahead. Through the more
homogeneous flow of traffic, fuel consumption and emissions fall. At the
same time the transport times will become more calculable and the major
assemblies of the trucks concerned will also be subjected to less wear
thanks to a consistent driving style. This also reduces the truck's
downtimes due to maintenance and repairs. Relieving the transport
infrastructure and optimising the flow of goods are important prerequisites
for our customers, to ensure success when on the roads in the future,
too.
Step by step to autonomous
driving
In July 2014
Mercedes-Benz had its Future Truck 2025 driven on a test track near
Magdeburg and in May this year the world premiere of the Freightliner
Inspiration Truck caused a sensation. Daimler was presenting the first
truck with a permit for operation on public roads to drive in a highly
automated fashion. Both the Future Truck 2025 and the Inspiration
Truck are concept vehicles which are equipped with further functions. The
mirror cam, swivelling seat and integral tablet are elements which are not
present in the Actros with Highway Pilot. The reason for this is that the
vehicle is approved according to automation level 2 (partially automated
driving). This means that the Highway Pilot can assist the driver in
certain situations both for longitudinal and lateral guidance. However the
driver must constantly monitor the vehicle and the road and traffic
conditions and at all times be in a position to take control of the truck
again. For this reason, activities such as the use of a tablet during the
automated journey are not currently allowed. On the test track in Magdeburg
the Future Truck 2015 already demonstrated automation stage 3 (highly
automated driving): this means that the system independently detects the
system limits and accordingly asks the driver to take over the task of
driving. And at this automation level the driver no longer has to monitor
the system on a permanent basis and could also carry on with other
activities during the journey.
Daimler
Trucks is focusing on constantly developing mobility solutions for the
future and readily assumes the leadership role for automated driving in the
truck, Dr Bernhard emphasises: „Our claim is 'Shaping Future
Transportation'. And with today's premiere we are once again impressively
backing up this claim. We are shaping the future of transportation with the
first autonomously driving production truck.“