Overdrive Magazine | Trucking Business News & Owner Operator Info
Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/522363
22 | Overdrive | June 2015 D aimler Trucks North America took a quantum leap in the autonomous driving arena last month with the introduction of its Inspiration Truck. Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval joined Daimler officials in Las Vegas in what was the largest and most expensive press event in the company's 100-plus-year history the launch of the first road-le- gal autonomous truck. It's legal only in Nevada, where provisions for Level 3 autonomous vehicles call for a driver to be behind the wheel. The Inspiration's brain is a new com- puter-actuated system called Highway Pilot. It uses complex stereo camera and radar systems with lane-keeping and col- lision-avoidance functions to handle basic driving functions restricted to one lane. While the Inspiration is viable com- mercially, it's still in its testing phase and not available for purchase yet. The truck can run in traffic throughout Nevada as Freightliner engineers test and refine it. The Inspiration "is not a driverless truck the driver is a key part of a col- laborative vehicle system," said Richard Howard, senior vice president of sales Data-driven The autonomous-driving Inspiration Truck, though not available commercially, will continue to run on public roads in Nevada for further testing. Freightliner takes the best of highway safety technology to the next level with its Inspiration Truck. BY JACK ROBERTS DRIVE TEST