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Mercedes’ Future Truck 2025 Previews Self-Driving Future of Hauling

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Mercedes-Benz Future Truck 2025There is fierce debate as to whether truck drivers should be required to take a 34-hour break after completing a 70-hour work week and if drivers should be required to wear CPAP devices to help ward off sleep apnea. Mercedes is looking to help find a happy medium that could satisfy both sides of the discussion by introducing Future Truck 2025, which recently completed its first entirely autonomous drive along part of the A14 autobahn near Magdeburg, Germany.

Dr. Wolfgang Bernhard, member of Daimler’s Board of Management responsible for Daimler Trucks and Buses, called the Future Truck 2025 a “response to the major challenges and opportunities associated with road freight transport in the future.” The self-driving truck will go a long way toward improving not just the safety of truck drivers and other highway travelers, but also toward improving efficiency and connectivity.

“With the Future Truck 2025, Daimler Trucks is once again highlighting its pioneering role in innovative technologies and is opening up a new era in truck transport. We aim to be the number one manufacturer in this market of the future, which we believe will offer solid revenue and earnings potential,” Bernhard added.

Mercedes-Benz Future Truck 2025And why wouldn’t it have earning potential? A truck that can drive itself when an exhausted driver needs a rest is a tool that could be beneficial for everyone.

Future Truck 2025 utilizes Highway Pilot as a sort of ultra-intelligent cruise control, allowing the driver to relinquish control to the truck’s self-driving system once it reaches speeds of 50 miles  per hour or greater.

The Future Truck 2025 also uses a feature called “Predictive Powertrain Control,” which uses detailed map information to determine the best mode of operation in order to maximize fuel economy.

Of course, the technology is a long ways off from being perfected, but as the name indicates, Mercedes plans to have some version of the Future Truck in production in a little more than a decade.

Says Bernhard: “The truck of the future is a Mercedes-Benz that drives itself.” He might just be right.Mercedes-Benz Future Truck 2025