Convoy of the future

Mercedes-Benz parent company Daimler is sending a convoy of three autonomous big rigs from its headquarters in Stuttgart, Germany, to Rotterdam, Holland, as part of the European Union-sponsored European Truck Platooning Challenge of 2016. Based on the series-produced Actros model, the three trucks are equipped with Mercedes' Highway Pilot Connect software, which relies on vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) technology to let the rigs travel in what Daimler calls a platoon. Data about the road ahead gathered by the lead truck is constantly transferred to the two other trucks via a Wi-Fi connection, so each vehicle knows precisely when to accelerate, when to brake, and when to turn without requiring any human input. However, the driver must remain alert and focused on the road ahead. The trucks in the platoon follow each other in 50-foot intervals, which boosts gas mileage by up to ten percent by reducing drag.