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A MERCEDEZ-BENZ TRUCK has made history by driving itself on a public road.

It’s the first time a production-model articulated truck has been driven semi-autonomously in traffic, on an open motorway.

It’s also evidence that autonomous driving technology is the future of transport.

Daimler AG, the parent company of Mercedes-Benz, took its Highway Pilot technology — the package of radar, sensors and cameras that turn regular trucks into self-driving ones — and installed it on a production model big-rig, the Mercedes Actros.

What’s amazing about this feat is that the Actros is not built as a self-driving truck. It’s just your run-of-the-mill, heavy-duty semi that first came out in 1995.

‘Take control’

The Highway Pilot technology essentially turns the humble semi-truck into an intelligent vehicle that can “continually observe the entire area in front of the vehicle”, according to Daimler, and “take control of itself in certain situations”.

Daimler says the Highway Pilot system can steer and brake in traffic on its own, and if the truck approaches an obstacle like a stopped vehicle, the system asks the driver to take over. If the driver doesn’t respond in time, the truck will stop itself.

Baden-Württemberg Prime Minister Winfried Kretschmann and Daimler's Dr. Wolfgang Bernhard ride inside the Highway Pilot-equipped self-driving Mercedes Actros big-rig. Daimler / Mercedes-Ben Daimler / Mercedes-Ben / Mercedes-Ben

The system will also ask the driver to take over if weather conditions change, or if there are no visible road markings.

A whole catalog of other safety features, like brake assist, active cruise control, and drowsiness detection, could help make Highway Pilot-equipped trucks some of the safest on the road.

Indeed, the first examples of this equipment in semi-trucks boils down to safety above all. Daimler says self-driving technology for articulated truck is not about letting drivers kick back while the truck does all the work.

The Highway Pilot-equipped Mercedes Actros big-rig confidently keeps its lane on a public highway in Germany. Daimler / Mercedes-Benz Daimler / Mercedes-Benz / Mercedes-Benz

Execs at Daimler say the Highway Pilot system is still in testing mode, but may be ready for real-world application by 2020. According to Dr. Wolfgang Bernhard, with Daimler’s Board of Management, we may even see them hitting the road sooner than that.

During the demonstration, Bernhard said:

We’re probably going to be ready a bit earlier … because our customers showed more interest than we expected them to.

Policymakers appear to be on board as well, according to Bernhard. He says that they “seem to be willing to set the legal framework that we need, so that makes us confident it will [be] ready earlier than later.”

- Bryan Logan

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