While the Western U.S.—namely California and Nevada—is pretty much ground-zero for autonomous-vehicle testing, Daimler would like to bring that development closer to its own engineering hub in Baden-Württemberg. And it looks like that’s about to happen very soon.
-One German testing door closes and another one opens. While the Nürburgring has banned lap-record attempts, it looks as if some stretches of the autobahn are about to be opened to autonomous vehicles, namely Daimler’s experimental heavy trucks. Speaking to the Sunday edition of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Daimler board member Wolfgang Bernhard said, “We are positive that in the next weeks, we will get approval for tests on German autobahns. Then we will start right away.”
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Bernhard went on to state that production of the heavy, rolling robots is only “two, three years away.” As we reported back in May, Daimler’s Freightliner division has logged more than 10,000 autonomous miles with its Inspiration concept truck (pictured above) on a test track in Germany, and the machine has already been given the go-ahead for public-road testing in Nevada. With the autobahn in the mix, the pace of development should only intensify. Luddites, hide your wives, because the gleaming robo-truckers are on their way.
-from Car and Driver Blog http://ift.tt/1LOmnR5
via Agya
