Daimler unveils autonomous truck

Daimler Trucks launched its newly developed autonomous transport truck, the Freightliner Inspiration, at an event that turned the Hoover Dam in Nevada into a large projection screen. The Level 3 autonomous truck uses Highway Pilot sensors and hardware with cameras and radar to safely operate under a range of highway conditions, and has been granted a licence to operate in Nevada. The Freightliner Inspiration is based on the US Freightliner Cascadia model, but with the addition of the Highway Pilot techno
May 7, 2015 Read time: 2 mins
2069 Daimler Trucks launched its newly developed autonomous transport truck, the Freightliner Inspiration, at an event that turned the Hoover Dam in Nevada into a large projection screen. The Level 3 autonomous truck uses Highway Pilot sensors and hardware with cameras and radar to safely operate under a range of highway conditions, and has been granted a licence to operate in Nevada.

The Freightliner Inspiration is based on the US Freightliner Cascadia model, but with the addition of the Highway Pilot technology that modified it for use on American highways.

As soon as the truck is on the highway, the driver can activate the Highway Pilot system, which system uses a stereo camera and radar systems with lane-keeping and collision-prevention functions. It regulates the speed, applies the brakes and steers, but does not initiate autonomous passing manoeuvres, which must be executed by the driver, who must also steer when leaving the highway and changing lanes. The driver can deactivate the Highway Pilot manually and is able to override the system at any time.

The adaptive cruise control system of the Freightliner Inspiration Truck uses the same hardware and software as the series production variants of the Mercedes-Benz Actros and Freightliner Cascadia Evolution. The active power steering system uses the same hardware as the production vehicles; however, the software has been modified. The steering gear installed in the Freightliner Inspiration Truck has been used in Mercedes-Benz trucks since 2011.

According to Daimler, the autonomous truck will increase fuel efficiency, improve traffic safety and reduce CO2 emissions.
Location Based Systems

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • New services and equipment helps cities tackle air quality issues
    September 19, 2017
    With poor urban air quality shortening lives and fines being imposed for breaching pollution limits, authorities are seeking ways to clean up their cities. Poor air quality is topping the agenda for city authorities across the globe. In the UK, for example, a report from the Royal Colleges of Physicians and of Paediatrics and Child Health, concluded that poor outdoor air quality shortens the lives of around 40,000 people a year – principally by undermining the health of people with heart and/or lung prob
    Read More
  • Study forecasts growth of self-driving cars
    January 7, 2014
    In its latest study, “Emerging Technologies: Autonomous cars—not if, but when,”, IHS Automotive forecasts total worldwide sales of self-driving cars (SDC) will grow from nearly 230 thousand in 2025 to 11.8 million in 2035 – seven million SDCs with both driver control and autonomous control and 4.8 million that have only autonomous control. In all, there should be nearly 54 million self-driving cars in use globally by 2035. The study anticipates that nearly all of the vehicles in use are likely to be self
    Read More
  • Jenoptik supplies sophisticated multi-section control project
    November 17, 2014
    Efficient speed enforcement in the most highly frequented tunnel in Austria on the A7 near Linz. The Bindermichl-Niedernhart tunnel complex on Austrian highway A7 connects the major east/west A1 route from Vienna/ Bratislava to Munich/Salzburg with the A7/ E55 running south from Prague in the Czech Republic. This happens right in the middle of the city of Linz, Austria.
    Read More
  • Counting the environmental costs of ITS deployment
    October 29, 2015
    David Crawford looks at the latest thinking about calculating the benefits associated with the environmental side of ITS schemes. The penny is dropping that some environmental costs “are being shifted outside the traditional bounds of evaluation methods” for ITS-based road transport projects, according to researchers at the UK University of Leeds’ Institute for Transport Studies.
    Read More

Highlighted Content