Mercedes-Benz Future Truck 2025 Makes Its Debut at the IAA

Giancarlo Perlas September 23, 2014

A couple of months ago, we revealed that Mercedes-Benz had been working on a self-driving truck. Recently, at the 65th Internationale Automobil-Ausstellung (IAA) held in Hannover, Daimler finally unveiled its Mercedes-Benz Future Truck 2025 equipped with an autonomous driving technology.

Wolfgang Bernhard displayed the capability of the truck in responding accordingly to traffic conditions without the intervention of a human. Then, it was said that it could gain speed up to 52 mph in the freeway using the auto-drive feature.

Aside from a technology ahead of our time, the Mercedes-Benz Future Truck 2025 also boasted an amazing design that would put the modern trucks to shame. The aerodynamics of the vehicle has been greatly optimized through its artfully curved form. Then, the concept truck came with a bright silver finish, which accentuated more its visuals.

However, one thing noticeable with the vehicle was its lack of conventional headlights. Instead of the usual headlamps, the truck used embedded LEDs across its fascia. The LED field beneath the skin of the truck glows to the point that it illuminates its path similar to the standard headlights used today. Notably, the LED field emits a white color when the truck is being driven manually, and it turns into blue if it is in auto-drive mode.

The side mirrors appeared to be missing too. They were replaced by two sensors located on each side of the truck. All the images captured by the sensors are fed to a monitor located at the driver’s left field of view.

Mercedes redesigned the cabin of its concept truck as well. The automaker removed some of the usual controls and panels found in an ordinary truck. All the controls and vital information for the driver have been moved to into a few touchscreens, giving the interior of the truck a very spacious and comfortable feel. To add more convenience to the driver, an executive swivel chair was mounted as a replacement for the standard driver’s seat.