Truck concepts of the future: autonomous, turbine and fuel cell

If Audi should ever get into the truck business, the Ingolstadt-based company could go to E n designs by the designers Artem Smirnov and Vladimir Panchenko fall back on. The topic was: trucks, autonomous driving and of course purely electrically powered. Option A shows a self-driving truck that could actually hit the road at some point, Option B focuses on the big show and is considered a pure designer piece.

Nikola Motor

The Nikola truck comes with 1,000 hp and a hydrogen drive.

Trucks should be more economical

Renault has also presented a new truck concept. The Renault Urban Lab 2 Truck should make the diesel engine fit for the future with hybrid technology and better aerodynamics.

Nikola Motors from the USA, however, relies on hydrogen drive technology and shows a truck that can travel 1,600 kilometers with hydrogen and with 1,000 hp is more powerful than any diesel truck. It is driven by six electric motors for each wheel. The Nikola One generates the electricity for the 320 kWh traction battery itself: with a fuel cell as the energy supplier. A natural gas version is planned for some markets.

Iveco has also given thought to greener heavy-duty traffic. The Italian commercial vehicle manufacturer Iveco presented the Study Z Truck one Truck driving autonomously and CO2-free is shown. The Iveco show truck relies on sophisticated aerodynamics, autonomous driving and a drive that only burns biogas. All in all, this should create a sustainable transport system. The Z in the name stands for “Zero”. Zero CO2 emissions, zero accidents, zero stress and zero wasted time.

Mercedes

Drives purely electrically: the Mercedes Urban E-Truck.

Mercedes drives autonomously and purely electrically

Mercedes is relying on electromobility for the future of heavy traffic for metropolitan areas. The 25-ton truck presented in September 2016 Urban e-Truck is fully electric and charged in two hours. With a gross vehicle weight of 25 tonnes and a payload of 12.8 tonnes, the Mercedes Urban e-Truck corresponds to a classic heavy solo truck. The two wheel hub motors are built into a portal axle and each achieve an output of 125 kilowatts. The maximum torque available immediately is 500 Newton meters each. Mercedes wants to set up the power supply in a modular way, so the range can be adjusted with correspondingly large battery packs depending on customer requirements. Three modules with a total capacity of 212 kWh are installed in the Urban e-Truck concept vehicle. They should guarantee a range of around 200 kilometers.

The Mercedes subsidiary Freightliner has the world's first autonomous truck with road approval with the Freightliner Inspiration Truck in June 2015 in Las Vegas presents. He uses the Highway Pilot System, which was presented in the Mercedes Future Truck 2025 in July of last year.

The Freightliner Inspiration Truck is based on the US series model Freightliner Cascadia. The Highway Pilot uses a complex setCameras and radar systems with lane keeping and collision prevention functions, it regulates the speed, brakes and steers. The highway pilot does not initiate autonomous overtaking maneuvers; these must be carried out by the driver himself. The same applies to leaving the highway and changing lanes. The driver can deactivate the Highway Pilot manually and override the system at any time.