About 120 years ago, the first truck appeared on the unpaved streets of Europe. Now, Daimler trucks are ready to step into the era of connectivity and internet.
Well, it’s more like they are already there, as an impressive number of 365.000 trucks are connected to the FleetBoard and Detroit Connect systems. It is the largest number of trucks made by any manufacturer to be connected, and the connectivity’s main advantage is that the whole transportation process becomes much more efficient. The upcoming investment? About 500 million euros for connecting even more trucks and developing new digital solutions and services, only for the next five years! What’s more interesting is that the platforms are also accessible to third parties.
To prove the connectivity capabilities, three autonomously driving, Wi-Fi connected trucks made a demo on the A52 Autobahn. They formed a platoon, for a seven percent lower fuel consumption and an almost half road space requirement, while increasing the traffic safety. They looked more like a train, a fact that helped a lot to improve the air resistance, therefore decreasing the total fuel consumption of the group. But there aren’t the only benefits. The system is so complex, that is offers data about the truck, weather, traffic, service stations, parking places and many other data to the driver, owner, insurance company and authorities. Therefore – no secrets, no unpleasant surprises.
How is it possible, you ask? The information is collected using 400 sensors in each truck, which are connected with the software using 100 millions code lines, meaning more than those of a passenger plane! Certainly, it sounds impressive! But let’s look at a potential future and imagine how this technology will affect our personal cars. The first thing that comes into my mind is each time you overspeed, the offense will go directly to the authorities table, while the fine will come to you practically in no time!
