Mercedes-Benz Safety Truck with Active Protection
The Safety Truck by Mercedes-Benz is already a reality today, as a unique vehicle which combines all the driver support and safety systems currently available.
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Article Summary
May 15, 2006 As ironic as it seems, Mercedes Benz trucks are actually more advanced in their active safety systems than the company’s most advanced passenger vehicles, and the advent of its latest Active Brake Assist (emergency brake assistant) technology will see that brought firmly into focus in coming weeks as the company steps up its road safety initiatives at a political level in Europe. Though it will be marketing all of its electronic driver support and safety system concepts in one “Mercedes-Benz Safety Truck” package, the bright yellow safety poster child is actually available as of this week as a fully-optioned Actros. The newly added Active Brake Assist is based on the existing radar system used by the Telligent proximity control system and initiates emergency braking when there is an acute risk of a collision with a car in front. It uses the three radar beams of the proximity control system, which detect obstacles moving in the lane ahead of the truck at a distance of up to150 metres, while constantly determining the difference in speeds between the two vehicles. If an accident is unavoidable in the prevailing circumstances, the driver is first given a visual and acoustic warning, followed by partial braking (30 percent braking performance), and if the risk of a collision increases even further, the system then initiates full emergency braking. Since rear-end collisions represent a sizable proportion of the accidents that occur in heavy-duty transport on European roads, the accident researchers expect the widespread use of Active Brake Assist to lead to a noticeable reduction in the number of accidents involving fatalities and serious injuries.
