"Inspiration" Autonomous Truck
The first self-driving vehicle might not be a car; it will be a truck. The 18-wheeler “Inspiration” by Freightliner, is the first prototype truck to legally roam driverless on the roads of Nevada.
“Inspiration” uses a combination of GPS, radars and video cameras to detect objects and lane markings around the truck and take over steering, braking and accelerating from the driver and achieve what is called “Level 3 Autonomy”, which means the truck can drive itself when conditions are right but a driver should always be present and ready to take control when needed. When auto-pilot option is available, the truck gives a signal to the driver to activate it, and another signal when conditions require driver intervention. ?For example, on a long stretch of monotonous road where conditions are generally predictable and the road is clearly marked, the truck would drive itself. But within the city and residential areas where more complex maneuvers take place, a human driver is better.
If the driver does not take control in 20 seconds after the truck requests driver intervention, the truck will slow itself down.
Wolfgang Bernhard, the global head of trucks and buses for Freightliner’s parent company, Daimler, said he expects the technology to add a “new dimension of safety.”
?The advantages of “Inspiration” are greater than being able to rest and reply to text-messages while travelling down the road: According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, more than 3,600 Americans died in crashes with a heavy truck in 2013. Although federal regulations limit truck drivers to 11 hours a day behind the wheel, that’s still a lot of time—and it’s unclear how many abide by the rule. “Ninety percent of truck accidents are due to driver error, and 1 in 8 of those are due to driver fatigue,” according to Bernhard.
Freighliner’s truck is a prototype but the technology inside is mature, therefore, what still needs development are only laws and regulations that will govern how these trucks will exist in the world.
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