WE’RE IN THE CAB of an Actros tractor unit, cruising around the high-speed bowl at the Millbrook proving ground in Bedfordshire. Suddently, out of the gloom emerges a van, parked up ahead, in the middle of our lane. It’s getting closer. Surely our driver will apply the brakes, or take an evasive action by moving into the next lane. Instead, he carries on and that van keeps on getting bigger and bigger in that windscreen until… Active Brake Assist (ABA) intervenes automatically and in an awesome exhibition of staged stopping power, brings the truck safely to a halt.
Apprenhension turns to relief and then laughter. This was a heart-stopping, but also prodoundly reassuring experience that few of those who took part in will ever forget. The Active Brake Assist demonstration was an undoubted highlight of the first RoadEfficiency LIVE presentation, at which operators gained a unique insight into the latest fuel-saving and service aswell as safety developments from Mercedes-Benz Trucks.
There are three pillars to the new RoadEfficiency campaign. Safety is one, the others being Low Total Costs and Maximised Use. No other automotive company has done more to advance the cause of protecting drivers and other road users than Mercedes-Benz. As RoadEfficiency LIVE guests learned, with the latest, fourth-generation autonomous braking system, it has raised the safety bar once again.
Active Brake Assist 4 shifts the focus to urban environments and vulnerable road users by incorporating yet another word “first” – pedestrian recognition. The system employs a combination of new multi-mode radar and advanced cameras to monitor moving and stationary objects in front of the vehicle. It sounds an audible warning when it senses potential for a collision. If the driver takes no action it will apply staged braking, and eventually full braking power, to prevent a crash, or dramatically reduce the effects of an impact.
On detecting a pedestrian – it can even recognise one stepping into the truck’s path from behind a parked car – ABA4 will apply partial, but not full braking, while simultaneously activating acoustic and visual warnings. It can also detect static obstacles within the system limits and reduces the consequence of collisions or prevents them altogehter, through prompt initiation of full braking.
ABA3 comfortably exceeded the requirements of the next mandated level of General Safety Regulations which do not come into force until 2018. Now optionally available either individually or as part of the value-for-money Mercedes-Benz Safety Pack, its successor ABA4 puts Mercedes-Benz even further ahead of the pack.
