Trucks at a rest area on the highway Photo: dpa/picture alliance
From BZ/dpa
MAN wants to send computer-controlled, autonomous trucks onto the highway this year.
The truck manufacturer is working with eleven partners and supported by the federal government on the basis for future series applications. The project will be “the first time an autonomous truck will be on a motorway in Germany,” said MAN development director Frederik Zohm on Tuesday in Munich.
Driverless shuttle transport between logistics centers will “contribute to greater safety, greater efficiency and fewer traffic jams on the roads”. This also helps with the driver shortage.
The project has been running for almost two years. The suppliers involved are Knorr-Bremse, Leoni, Bosch, Fernride, BTC Embedded Systems, institutes of the Fraunhofer Society and the Technical Universities of Munich and Braunschweig, TÜV Süd, Autobahn GmbH and the Würzburg Institute for Transport Sciences.
“In the end, there should be an industrial-grade concept for operating automated trucks on the highway,” said MAN, the project leader. A safety driver is still on board during the test drives.