Mercedes-Benz has reportedly unveiled a demonstration video of an 'auto-driven' truck named Mercedes-Benz Future Truck 2025, showing the vehicle driving on its own at high speeds on Germany's autobahn.
The truck uses a system called 'Highway Pilot', using which the human driver is able to switch control of the truck to the vehicle's embedded system and ride hands-free as a passenger.
Highway Pilot uses a combination of vehicle-to-vehicle communication via Wi-Fi (with a range of 1,640 feet), lateral radar on both sides of the truck (with a range of 197 feet) and full range (820 feet) and short-range (230 feet) radar mounted on the front of the truck. The truck also uses a front stereo camera, mounted just under its windshield, Mashable reported.
As its name indicates, the company hopes to have the technology operating regularly on the road by 2025, but first local laws will have to be enacted to allow for the introduction of autonomous vehicles onto human-populated highways.
If current developments around such autonomous systems persist, Daimler may not have to wait until 2025. One city in England has plans to roll out 100 self-driving cars for public use next year, and in California the state's Department of Motor Vehicles has approved autonomous car tests set to begin in September.