Autonomous Mercedes-Benz Semi-Truck Drove Itself on the Autobahn

Last week, a Mercedes-Benz semi-truck made its maiden self-driving voyage on a public road. The truck, an Actros model equipped with MB’s Highway Pilot technology, drove completely unassisted for a partial time on the A8 between Denkendorf and Stuttgart airport. In other words, on the Autobahn.

In the truck were Daimler’s head of trucks and buses, Wolfgang Bernhard, and Prime Minister of the German state, Baden-Württemberg. Once Bernhard navigated onto the highway, he let the autopilot take control and lead them down a stretch of road. Once the truck realized it was nearly time to take an exit into the airport, it alerted Bernhard to once again grab hold of the wheel. It did the same on the return trip, when they came across some construction.

Although Mercedes-Benz says the current technology is functional enough to hit roads right now, there are still multiple hurdles, most importantly for testing and reassurance from government agencies. When we’ll actually see this thing in public hands is still up in the air.

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Via [Daimler]