Autonomous technology will likely alter the way commercial vehicles are designed from the inside out. The changes will facilitate drivers – who now have a single function while on the road – to evolve into operators and managers, expected to multitask from behind the wheel.
Some automakers are already mapping out the future. Mercedes-Benz, a division of German auto manufacturer Daimler AG, and Italian car and truck maker Iveco, released concept art hinting at how vehicles might change if no driver is required.
Mercedes-Benz’s Future Truck 2025 concept demonstrates several potential benefits of vehicles designed for autonomous driving. When operating in a mode dubbed Highway Pilot, the vehicle drives independent of a driver. In this self-driving setting, occupants are able to turn their chairs away from the dashboard and focus on other tasks.
Mercedes’ concept also features a conventional steering wheel as well as an on-board tablet used for trip navigation and to monitor the freight stored in the trailer, which is loaded on smart pallets.
Iveco also introduced an autonomous vehicle concept, known as the Z Truck, to explore multiple ideas for potential deployment. The vehicle uses a natural gas engine to reduce emissions, active and preventive safety systems to mitigate accidents and platooning technology for improved safety and efficiency.
Martin Flach, alternative fuels director for Iveco, told Trucks.com that the external design is more rounded in shape, unlike “the brick wall” currently in place for virtually all commercial vehicles.
“This is a much more rounded front,” Flach said.
Both trucks offer rotating seats designed to improve driver comfort, but also contribute to greater productivity. The self-driving trucks of tomorrow will likely include a mobile office that allows drivers to perform other tasks while the vehicle is moving, said Bryan Flansburg, president of NAFA Fleet Management Assn.
“I envision that the co-pilot seat would be more of a mobile office,” Flansburg told Trucks.com.
Plumbers and electricians, for example, could complete work orders while commuting so they are ready to go when they arrive on site.
“And while you’re moving from that job to the next, you’re back at a computer desk ordering parts, restocking, billing your customers – everything as you move down the road,” he said. “My feeling is it’s going to be an evolution.”
“When pilots switch to autopilot [in an airplane], they still have a seat behind the wheel,” Flansburg said.