Video of Self-Driving Mercedes-Benz Actros in Action
Giancarlo Perlas October 3, 2015
The last time we saw a video of the Mercedes-Benz self-driving truck in action, it was during its unveiling. But its testing was only limited within its maker’s driving facility, and the only vehicles you can see along its way are its fellow three-pointed star branded autos. A few days ago, it was finally unleashed on the highway with actual traffic.
Driven by Daimler Board Member Dr. Wolfgang Bernhard while being accompanied by the Prime Minister of Baden-Württemberg Winfried Kretschmann in the front passenger seat, the semi-autonomous Mercedes-Benz Actros was tested from the A8 road, between Denkendorf and Stuttgart airport, towards Karlsruhe, and back to its point of origin.
As we have mentioned in an earlier report, the self-driving features of the Mercedes truck called the Highway Pilot system was activated upon reaching the busy highway through a press of a button on the right side of its steering wheel as seen in the video below.
From then on, Bernhard allowed the truck to steer its way into the traffic autonomously. It was by far a success because the massive Mercedes kept its lane, maintained the allowable speed limit, braked when needed, and there were no incidents so far. The Daimler exec only took over the manual driving when it arrived at the airport/trade fair exit.
It should be noted that the intervention of the driver was minimal during the testing. Bernhard and Kretschmann can even be seen chatting casually over a cup of coffee while the truck did its job on the road.
