Daimler Truck Mercedes-Benz presents the "Future Truck 2025" as the world's first autonomously driving truck
- Thread starter Wolfgang
- Start date
Daimler Truck AG (holding company legal name Daimler Truck Holding AG) is the world's largest commercial vehicle manufacturer, with over 35 main locations worldwide and approximately 100,000 employees. Daimler Truck AG is headquartered in Leinfelden-Echterdingen, Germany. The Daimler Truck and Daimler Buses divisions include the eight vehicle brands BharatBenz, Freightliner, FUSO, Mercedes-Benz, RIZON, Setra, Thomas Built Buses and Western Star. Daimler Truck is the global market leader in the medium and heavy-duty truck segment with a gross vehicle weight of over 6 tons.
Beemer B773ER
Tire Trailblazer
What an epic reveal... what a great looking truck!
Wolfgang
Kraftwagen König
Yes, the presentation apparently even made it into the Guinness Book of World Records. 
Record-breaking World Premiere of Freightliner Inspiration Truck on Hoover Dam
"The Inspiration Truck's debut was made even more notable with Freightliner's Guinness World Record of the highest light output projection ever." To give this historic event a fitting, monumental backdrop, 60 projectors at 26,000 watts each projected the 30-minute presentation that introduced the Inspiration Truck. In a spectacular finish of the reveal, the truck drove onto the Hoover Dam in the desert of Nevada. This unique video screening was projected onto a surface of a little over 420,000 square feet. This is equal to almost nine football fields and over 87 average-size IMAX screens.
Source: http://www.prnewswire.com/news-rele...nspiration-truck-on-hoover-dam-300078209.html
Record-breaking World Premiere of Freightliner Inspiration Truck on Hoover Dam
"The Inspiration Truck's debut was made even more notable with Freightliner's Guinness World Record of the highest light output projection ever." To give this historic event a fitting, monumental backdrop, 60 projectors at 26,000 watts each projected the 30-minute presentation that introduced the Inspiration Truck. In a spectacular finish of the reveal, the truck drove onto the Hoover Dam in the desert of Nevada. This unique video screening was projected onto a surface of a little over 420,000 square feet. This is equal to almost nine football fields and over 87 average-size IMAX screens.
Source: http://www.prnewswire.com/news-rele...nspiration-truck-on-hoover-dam-300078209.html
Beemer B773ER
Tire Trailblazer
Amazing stuff!!
That truck looks sooooo bad ass, but not at all over-the-top!
That truck looks sooooo bad ass, but not at all over-the-top!
Wolfgang
Kraftwagen König
Autonomous trucking like the Inspiration Truck is still a decade or two away writes Autoweek.
Freightliner wants to know if we're ready for autonomous trucks
AUTONOMOUS VEHICLES ARE ONE STEP CLOSER WITH DEBUT OF FREIGHTLINER INSPIRATION TRUCK
A few days ago Freightliner, invited us to the Nevada desert to witness the reveal of something historic, something that was billed as a gamechanger in the commercial transportation industry. Along with parent company Daimler, Freightliner had developed two prototypes of the first licensed autonomous commercial trucks to operate on public highways.
Dubbed the Inspiration Truck, the prototypes were first shown to hundreds of members from the media, industry and government in a ceremony attended by the governor of Nevada, Brian Sandoval, where the still-camouflaged truck received the first Nevada license plates created for autonomous vehicles, allowing the trucks to operate on roads within the state in autonomous mode. The full debut of the truck took place later that night at the Hoover Dam, with the completely revealed truck emerging at the top of the hill overlooking the dam, and making its way down a road to the bridge topping the dam as helicopters buzzed overhead and a video projection system played a specially created short film on the gigantic surface of the dam itself. We're pretty sure the whole presentation was visible from orbit.
As the truck made its way to the center of the dam bridge, we wouldn't have been surprised if it had suddenly transformed into Optimus Prime or if Iron Man (or at least RoboCop, the old Peter Weller one, not the new one) emerged from the cab of the truck as spotlights from the mountains around the Hoover Dam lit up the truck from hundreds of yards away.
But who did emerge on the observation deck of the dam was "Top Gear" host Rutledge Wood, who along with Dr. Wolfgang Bernhard, member of the board of management of Daimler AG and Martin Daum, president and CEO of Daimler Trucks North America, introduced the truck to the crowd.
"Freightliner Trucks has been setting the standard for commercial vehicle design and technology for nearly 75 years," said Daum. "Whether it was the first all-aluminum cab introduced in 1942 or the current industry-leading Freightliner Cascadia Evolution, we are inspired by meeting the challenges faced by our customers."
The Freightliner Inspiration Truck is effectively a Level 3 autonomous vehicle, allowing the driver to give full control of safety-critical functions under certain traffic and environmental conditions. That means it can stay in a selected lane, stop or slow down when traffic conditions call for it and maintain a preset distance from other vehicles in its lane. The suite of autonomous systems in the Inspiration Truck is called Highway Pilot. A Level 4 vehicle, on the NHTSA scale, would be capable of full self-driving automation and only require the driver to select routes, while a Level 2 vehicle on that scale is one that features two primary control functions that help the driver, such as active lane-keeping assist and adaptive cruise control. The Inspiration Truck, therefore, may be viewed as a stepping stone between these two levels of autonomy.
Highway Pilot functions much in the same manner as autopilot on a commercial jetliner. Once the vehicle reaches a cruising altitude -- in our case, the interstate -- the driver can hand over controls to the truck and cruise at a preset speed. The truck's autonomous systems rely on radar and cameras to stay in lane and to maintain a safe following distance from the vehicles ahead, with the cameras essentially reading the lane markings to steer the truck. The system notifies the driver when conditions permit autonomous mode to be used, and with a press of a couple buttons on the touchscreen the driver can set the countdown to the handover. Which happens without any drama whatsoever.
One minute we're sitting beside one of the Freightliner engineers and chatting as we're driving just a few miles from Las Vegas city limits, and another minute the truck is driving itself, with the steering wheel moving just a few fractions of an inch every few seconds in either direction on the mostly straight interstate.
Even in this advanced experimental form, there are still a few limitations to the Highway Pilot. In autonomous mode, the truck cannot change lanes, cannot read road signage, and cannot read and react to traffic lights. Its ability to detect what we'll call rapidly unfolding situations up ahead and on each side is also fairly limited, meaning that the most the truck can react to is a rapid deceleration of vehicles ahead of it, in which case it alerts the driver via an audible alarm and disengages from autonomous mode. This rules out a dynamic response to an accident that could be in the process of unfolding in another lane, but which at that point in time has not yet entered the truck's path but most certainly will in another second or two. Similarly, a herd of buffalo heading in a direction perpendicular to the truck's line of sight will be similarly ignored. That may sound like a far-fetched scenario, but there is a reason we weren't driving on any state roads with intersections with nothing but stop signs to direct the flow of traffic -- the Highway Pilot system wouldn't be able to interact with objects in that environment even if all the other requirements for autonomous driving mode are met.
In addition, Freightliner has not tested the Highway Pilot autonomous feature during the rain, at night, or in weather and light conditions other than a bright, clear day in relatively light traffic. This means that for now, the capabilities of the prototype are limited, and even though the truck could work in autonomous mode in the dusk or dawn hours, a full-on thunderstorm on a road with poor lane markings just isn't in the cards.
Barriers other than technological ones also exist when it comes even to the testing of autonomous trucks on U.S. roads. Right now, a grand total of five states (including Nevada) allow auto manufacturers to test vehicles with various autonomous features on state roads. But for trucking companies that actually operate trucks, a large number of states would have to have legislation in place allowing trucks with autonomous features to use their roads for commercial, not just testing, purposes. After all, 18-wheelers typically do not stay inside a single state for more than a day or two, depending on the size of the state, and a jurisdiction that disallows trucks with autonomous driving systems or allows a very limited range of how they could be used would present headaches to the drivers and companies who operate the trucks. As we have all learned in civics class, each state can and does hold radically different views on just about everything, and can often take a contrary position on an issue of its neighbors. Getting state and federal legislation in place when it comes to the commercial use of trucks with autonomous driving features may in fact be more difficult than the technological barriers that still have to be overcome.
Another non-technological barrier that has to be overcome is one of demand, and that's a tricky thing in itself. Aerospace manufacturers typically do not start fielding a particular plane unless a large-enough number of airlines agree to purchase them. It's the same with trucks, even though in this case we're talking about technologies than can be adapted to work on vehicles that already exist -- at the end of the day, we're talking about trucks that just happen to wear a lot of sensors on their body and coordinate them with controls. Truck operators, and not just a dozen small companies that operate within a handful of states, have to be on board with the use of autonomous driving technologies for there to be a business case.
Finally, there is the issue of truck driver and motorist acceptance. Should we welcome our new autonomous truck overlords? Most of us have no qualms about autopilot systems in airplanes assuming the flight controls for hours on end -- more than 10 hours on the most painful flights to Australasia -- and assuming the responsibility for hundreds of lives. What's wrong with a truck cruising on autopilot all the way out in the middle of nowhere? Public acceptance of autonomous vehicles, from Google cars to larger vehicles, is being gauged just now, as tech companies and automakers are fielding the very first prototypes with varying levels of autonomous features.
Freightliner isn't trying to get the driver out of the picture -- the company does not envision completely autonomous drone trucks anytime soon, or at any visible point in the future. Rather, Freightliner sees autonomous trucks as easing the workload for the driver and allowing him or her to schedule upcoming trips, communicate with customers via videophone, or simply watch cat videos on YouTube. And the company does not refer to its prototypes or their technologies as being "driverless," a term which has crept into our vocabulary over the past several years.
"Freightliner Trucks does more than any other commercial truck manufacturer to integrate the truck, the driver and the business. The Freightliner Inspiration Truck is a case in point because it is not a driverless truck -- the driver is a key part of a collaborative vehicle system," said Richard Howard, senior vice president, sales and marketing, DTNA. "With the Freightliner Inspiration Truck, drivers can optimize their time on the road while also handling other important logistical tasks, from scheduling to routing. The autonomous vehicle technology not only contributes to improved safety and efficiency, but allows for improved communication through connectivity and integration."
When might we see the Inspiration Truck in action? That's one thing Daimler and Freightliner did not attempt to set a timetable for, perhaps as much for not wanting to set a deadline for themselves in front of hundreds of journalists who will hold them to it and even create a countdown clock, as so many things have to fall into place before companies field commercial trucks with Level 3 autonomy features. What is clear is that we're not talking about two years from now or even five years from now. Autopilot systems for trucks similar to that offered by the Inspiration Truck prototypes are still a decade or two away from commercial adoption, many in the industry including Freightliner and Daimler executives have indicated.
Source: Autoweek
Freightliner wants to know if we're ready for autonomous trucks
AUTONOMOUS VEHICLES ARE ONE STEP CLOSER WITH DEBUT OF FREIGHTLINER INSPIRATION TRUCK
A few days ago Freightliner, invited us to the Nevada desert to witness the reveal of something historic, something that was billed as a gamechanger in the commercial transportation industry. Along with parent company Daimler, Freightliner had developed two prototypes of the first licensed autonomous commercial trucks to operate on public highways.
Dubbed the Inspiration Truck, the prototypes were first shown to hundreds of members from the media, industry and government in a ceremony attended by the governor of Nevada, Brian Sandoval, where the still-camouflaged truck received the first Nevada license plates created for autonomous vehicles, allowing the trucks to operate on roads within the state in autonomous mode. The full debut of the truck took place later that night at the Hoover Dam, with the completely revealed truck emerging at the top of the hill overlooking the dam, and making its way down a road to the bridge topping the dam as helicopters buzzed overhead and a video projection system played a specially created short film on the gigantic surface of the dam itself. We're pretty sure the whole presentation was visible from orbit.
As the truck made its way to the center of the dam bridge, we wouldn't have been surprised if it had suddenly transformed into Optimus Prime or if Iron Man (or at least RoboCop, the old Peter Weller one, not the new one) emerged from the cab of the truck as spotlights from the mountains around the Hoover Dam lit up the truck from hundreds of yards away.
But who did emerge on the observation deck of the dam was "Top Gear" host Rutledge Wood, who along with Dr. Wolfgang Bernhard, member of the board of management of Daimler AG and Martin Daum, president and CEO of Daimler Trucks North America, introduced the truck to the crowd.
"Freightliner Trucks has been setting the standard for commercial vehicle design and technology for nearly 75 years," said Daum. "Whether it was the first all-aluminum cab introduced in 1942 or the current industry-leading Freightliner Cascadia Evolution, we are inspired by meeting the challenges faced by our customers."
The Freightliner Inspiration Truck is effectively a Level 3 autonomous vehicle, allowing the driver to give full control of safety-critical functions under certain traffic and environmental conditions. That means it can stay in a selected lane, stop or slow down when traffic conditions call for it and maintain a preset distance from other vehicles in its lane. The suite of autonomous systems in the Inspiration Truck is called Highway Pilot. A Level 4 vehicle, on the NHTSA scale, would be capable of full self-driving automation and only require the driver to select routes, while a Level 2 vehicle on that scale is one that features two primary control functions that help the driver, such as active lane-keeping assist and adaptive cruise control. The Inspiration Truck, therefore, may be viewed as a stepping stone between these two levels of autonomy.
Highway Pilot functions much in the same manner as autopilot on a commercial jetliner. Once the vehicle reaches a cruising altitude -- in our case, the interstate -- the driver can hand over controls to the truck and cruise at a preset speed. The truck's autonomous systems rely on radar and cameras to stay in lane and to maintain a safe following distance from the vehicles ahead, with the cameras essentially reading the lane markings to steer the truck. The system notifies the driver when conditions permit autonomous mode to be used, and with a press of a couple buttons on the touchscreen the driver can set the countdown to the handover. Which happens without any drama whatsoever.
One minute we're sitting beside one of the Freightliner engineers and chatting as we're driving just a few miles from Las Vegas city limits, and another minute the truck is driving itself, with the steering wheel moving just a few fractions of an inch every few seconds in either direction on the mostly straight interstate.
Even in this advanced experimental form, there are still a few limitations to the Highway Pilot. In autonomous mode, the truck cannot change lanes, cannot read road signage, and cannot read and react to traffic lights. Its ability to detect what we'll call rapidly unfolding situations up ahead and on each side is also fairly limited, meaning that the most the truck can react to is a rapid deceleration of vehicles ahead of it, in which case it alerts the driver via an audible alarm and disengages from autonomous mode. This rules out a dynamic response to an accident that could be in the process of unfolding in another lane, but which at that point in time has not yet entered the truck's path but most certainly will in another second or two. Similarly, a herd of buffalo heading in a direction perpendicular to the truck's line of sight will be similarly ignored. That may sound like a far-fetched scenario, but there is a reason we weren't driving on any state roads with intersections with nothing but stop signs to direct the flow of traffic -- the Highway Pilot system wouldn't be able to interact with objects in that environment even if all the other requirements for autonomous driving mode are met.
In addition, Freightliner has not tested the Highway Pilot autonomous feature during the rain, at night, or in weather and light conditions other than a bright, clear day in relatively light traffic. This means that for now, the capabilities of the prototype are limited, and even though the truck could work in autonomous mode in the dusk or dawn hours, a full-on thunderstorm on a road with poor lane markings just isn't in the cards.
Barriers other than technological ones also exist when it comes even to the testing of autonomous trucks on U.S. roads. Right now, a grand total of five states (including Nevada) allow auto manufacturers to test vehicles with various autonomous features on state roads. But for trucking companies that actually operate trucks, a large number of states would have to have legislation in place allowing trucks with autonomous features to use their roads for commercial, not just testing, purposes. After all, 18-wheelers typically do not stay inside a single state for more than a day or two, depending on the size of the state, and a jurisdiction that disallows trucks with autonomous driving systems or allows a very limited range of how they could be used would present headaches to the drivers and companies who operate the trucks. As we have all learned in civics class, each state can and does hold radically different views on just about everything, and can often take a contrary position on an issue of its neighbors. Getting state and federal legislation in place when it comes to the commercial use of trucks with autonomous driving features may in fact be more difficult than the technological barriers that still have to be overcome.
Another non-technological barrier that has to be overcome is one of demand, and that's a tricky thing in itself. Aerospace manufacturers typically do not start fielding a particular plane unless a large-enough number of airlines agree to purchase them. It's the same with trucks, even though in this case we're talking about technologies than can be adapted to work on vehicles that already exist -- at the end of the day, we're talking about trucks that just happen to wear a lot of sensors on their body and coordinate them with controls. Truck operators, and not just a dozen small companies that operate within a handful of states, have to be on board with the use of autonomous driving technologies for there to be a business case.
Finally, there is the issue of truck driver and motorist acceptance. Should we welcome our new autonomous truck overlords? Most of us have no qualms about autopilot systems in airplanes assuming the flight controls for hours on end -- more than 10 hours on the most painful flights to Australasia -- and assuming the responsibility for hundreds of lives. What's wrong with a truck cruising on autopilot all the way out in the middle of nowhere? Public acceptance of autonomous vehicles, from Google cars to larger vehicles, is being gauged just now, as tech companies and automakers are fielding the very first prototypes with varying levels of autonomous features.
Freightliner isn't trying to get the driver out of the picture -- the company does not envision completely autonomous drone trucks anytime soon, or at any visible point in the future. Rather, Freightliner sees autonomous trucks as easing the workload for the driver and allowing him or her to schedule upcoming trips, communicate with customers via videophone, or simply watch cat videos on YouTube. And the company does not refer to its prototypes or their technologies as being "driverless," a term which has crept into our vocabulary over the past several years.
"Freightliner Trucks does more than any other commercial truck manufacturer to integrate the truck, the driver and the business. The Freightliner Inspiration Truck is a case in point because it is not a driverless truck -- the driver is a key part of a collaborative vehicle system," said Richard Howard, senior vice president, sales and marketing, DTNA. "With the Freightliner Inspiration Truck, drivers can optimize their time on the road while also handling other important logistical tasks, from scheduling to routing. The autonomous vehicle technology not only contributes to improved safety and efficiency, but allows for improved communication through connectivity and integration."
When might we see the Inspiration Truck in action? That's one thing Daimler and Freightliner did not attempt to set a timetable for, perhaps as much for not wanting to set a deadline for themselves in front of hundreds of journalists who will hold them to it and even create a countdown clock, as so many things have to fall into place before companies field commercial trucks with Level 3 autonomy features. What is clear is that we're not talking about two years from now or even five years from now. Autopilot systems for trucks similar to that offered by the Inspiration Truck prototypes are still a decade or two away from commercial adoption, many in the industry including Freightliner and Daimler executives have indicated.
Source: Autoweek
Wolfgang
Kraftwagen König
SuperTruck Study receives an award from the U.S. Department of Energy
Stuttgart / Portland (Oregon), USA
Jun 26, 2015
- With the “Distinguished Achievement Award”, the U.S. Department of Energy has honoured the results of the SuperTruck Study by Daimler Trucks North America
- Research and development project achieves significantly improved efficiency in the road goods transport of the future
- Results relating to optimized aerodynamics and intelligent powertrain already incorporated into series production vehicles
- Daimler Trucks setting the standard for the North American market
DTNA initiated the 5-year SuperTruck Study in 2010, and received subsidies amounting to 40 million US dollars from the U.S. Department of Energy for this research and development undertaking. The aim of the Department was to increase the transport efficiency of trucks in U.S. class 8 by 50 percent. Daimler managed to exceed this figure significantly. The SuperTruck improves transport efficiency by 115 percent (measured in ton-miles per gallon) compared to a 2009 baseline truck used for comparison. The fuel consumption of the SuperTruck is also outstanding. On test drives the truck consumed an average of around 19 liters per 100 kilometers with a gross vehicle weight of 29.5 tonnes and at a speed of around 100 km/h. In this weight category regular consumption to date has been around the 39 liter mark. This means that Daimler Trucks has set a further technological standard for the North American truck market.
The Freightliner SuperTruck demonstrates how fuel consumption can be further reduced by means of specific aerodynamic and energy management measures, plus the use of an intelligent powertrain and other actuators. The SuperTruck is for example equipped with the Detroit DT12 automated transmission and predictive technology which uses GPS and digital 3D maps to control the vehicle speed.
The results of the study relating to aerodynamics and the powertrain have already been incorporated into the series production models Freightliner Cascadia Evolution and Western Star 5700 XE. For example, one in four Freightliner Cascadia Evolution trucks are equipped with the automated Detroit DT12 transmission.
While these optimizations are feasible for customer use, the SuperTruck study also shows that for example ultralight materials are not economically viable at this time. Although aluminum for the truck frame and carbon-fiber inside and outside the cab reduce the vehicle weight, they also incur higher material and production costs.
About Daimler Trucks North America
Daimler Trucks North America LLC based in Portland, Oregon is the leading manufacturer of heavy trucks in North America. DTNA produces and markets commercial vehicles under the brand names Freightliner, Western Star and Thomas Built Buses. The DTNA production network extends to nine locations. In addition to headquarters and production in Portland (Oregon) there are four production locations in North Carolina (Cleveland, Gastonia, High Point and Mount Holly) plus production plants in Redford (Michigan) and in Gaffney (South Carolina). DTNA has two further production locations in Mexico (Saltillo and Santiago Tianguistenco).
Source: Daimler
Human
You. The Road. Nothing else.
^ Yes, he's at Daimler Trucks, which includes Mercedes Commercial Vehicles.
I predict (and do not forget I said it) Wolfgang Bernhard will be DAIMLER's next chief-exec. He will take over from the greatest Dieter Zetsche, the man with the Carl Benz moustache - love that guy.
Wolfgang
Kraftwagen König
The live stream will start in about 5 hours.
World premiere: The first series-production autonomous truck on public roads
In a decisive manner, Daimler Trucks pushes autonomous driving for trucks further: On Friday, October 2, the worldwide first autonomously driving series-production truck will start its maiden voyage. Winfried Kretschmann, Prime Minister of the Federal State of Baden-Württemberg, and Dr. Wolfgang Bernhard, member of the Board of Management of Daimler AG responsible for Daimler Trucks & Buses, will carry out this tour.
To test an autonomous truck on public roads in Germany is a further important step along the path to this technology’s readiness for the market – and to a sustainable safe freight transport of the future.
Source: Daimler
World premiere: The first series-production autonomous truck on public roads
In a decisive manner, Daimler Trucks pushes autonomous driving for trucks further: On Friday, October 2, the worldwide first autonomously driving series-production truck will start its maiden voyage. Winfried Kretschmann, Prime Minister of the Federal State of Baden-Württemberg, and Dr. Wolfgang Bernhard, member of the Board of Management of Daimler AG responsible for Daimler Trucks & Buses, will carry out this tour.
To test an autonomous truck on public roads in Germany is a further important step along the path to this technology’s readiness for the market – and to a sustainable safe freight transport of the future.
Source: Daimler
Wolfgang
Kraftwagen König
From the stream.
They said cars drive around 14.000 km a year on average, and trucks about 10 times as much, around 130,000 km, which may explain the interest in the Highway Pilot technology, to increase safety, increase the efficiency, and to enhance the attractiveness of the truck as workspace.
The Highway Pilot works on autonomy level #2 at present, partly-autonomous, under the supervision of the driver.
They said cars drive around 14.000 km a year on average, and trucks about 10 times as much, around 130,000 km, which may explain the interest in the Highway Pilot technology, to increase safety, increase the efficiency, and to enhance the attractiveness of the truck as workspace.
The Highway Pilot works on autonomy level #2 at present, partly-autonomous, under the supervision of the driver.
Wolfgang
Kraftwagen König
Daimler showed platooning with three trucks today on the Autobahn near Düsseldorf in a live broadcast, lasting about 2 hours. Jeremey Rifkin gave a long presentation as well, explaining some of the background of this endeavour. Went pretty smoothly, just pressing the Highway Pilot Connect button once in range and locked, and the trucks take over.
Frankfurter Allgemeine
Frankfurter Allgemeine
Wolfgang
Kraftwagen König
Platooning: birds as a role model
MIT scientists have analysed truck platooning and found out how large savings in fuel can be achieved using simple solutions.
Efficient truck platooning - Daimler Trucks | Daimler
MIT scientists have analysed truck platooning and found out how large savings in fuel can be achieved using simple solutions.
Efficient truck platooning - Daimler Trucks | Daimler
Wolfgang
Kraftwagen König
New power from Detroit for Daimler-trucks in North America
Stuttgart/Redford, Michigan – In February, Daimler Trucks North America (DTNA) subsidiary Detroit Diesel Corporation increased their engine-portfolio. The Detroit DD8 is built in the Detroit components plant and powers medium-duty trucks. Depending on output, the six-cylinder engine with 7.7 liter displacement releases between 260 and 350 hp. By introducing the DD8, Daimler is ahead of the competition in the rollout of its global platform-strategy for drive trains. Over the last four years, Daimler Trucks has invested around 285 million euro in the renewal of its engine portfolio in North America.
Daimler has introduced its heavy-duty truck engine-platform in 2007. In 2013 medium-duty engines were added to the strategy. Since then the amount of DTNA trucks with Detroit engines has been growing continuously. For customers in North America it used to be very common to power their commercial vehicles with engines by other brands. However, not so with Freightliner and Western Star trucks: 95 percent of customers decide on engines by Detroit. Especially as part of the integrated drive train by Detroit it offers a higher efficiency and lower maintenance costs.
Strong development of commercial vehicle market in NAFTA
At the moment sales numbers and orders of Daimler trucks in NAFTA are on a strong rise. For this year, Daimler Trucks is expecting sales number to be significantly higher than last year. In 2017, Daimler Trucks already increased sales significantly in NAFTA – they went up 13 percent to 165,012 units (PY 145,701 units). In 2017 overall, with a market share of 39.8 percent (PY 39.3 percent) in weight classes 6 to 8, Daimler Trucks was undisputed market leader in medium- and heavy-duty segments in North America.
Wolfgang
Kraftwagen König
Platooning: birds as a role model
MIT scientists have analysed truck platooning and found out how large savings in fuel can be achieved using simple solutions.
Efficient truck platooning - Daimler Trucks | Daimler[/...
Daimler abandons platooning to focus on automation
Will be first to market with Level 2 autonomous truck
LAS VEGAS, Nev. – Daimler Trucks has determined that truck platooning is not currently viable, and will instead focus its efforts on developing autonomous vehicles.
This includes bringing the industry’s first truck featuring SAE Level 2 autonomy to the market later this year.
Those were among the key announcements from Daimler, made during the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) here today.
Daimler abandons platooning to focus on automation - Truck News
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Mercedes-Benz
Mercedes-Benz Group AG is headquartered in Stuttgart, Germany.
Established in 1926, Mercedes-Benz Group produces consumer luxury
vehicles and light commercial vehicles badged as Mercedes-Benz, Mercedes-AMG,
and Mercedes-Maybach.
Its origin lies in Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft's 1901 Mercedes
and Carl Benz's 1886 Benz Patent-Motorwagen, which is widely regarded
as the first internal combustion engine in a self-propelled automobile.
The slogan for the brand is "the best or nothing".
Official website: Mercedes-Benz (Global), Mercedes-Benz (USA)
Official website: Mercedes-Benz (Global), Mercedes-Benz (USA)
