Renault has become the first European manufacturer to offer an automated manual transmission specifically for the construction sector. Launched last week the DXi11-powered Kerax and Lander construction chassis uses the Optidriver+ gearbox featuring a new off-road mode to aid site manoeuvres. A development of the standard Optidriver+ installation, the off-road mode selects alternative transmission software mapping, which enables the use of more engine revs in each gear and quicker shifting between ratios.
Renault has also launched the complete Premium Lander range in the UK. Produced for predominantly on-highway construction use, the Lander line-up is available with two basic cab heights and either 7- or 11-litre engines within rigid or tractor configurations.
Lander and Kerax on and off the road
We tried several Lander and Kerax models over the manufacturer's tough off-road circuits and on the neighbouring public roads. In 
normal road use the Optidriver+ carries through the qualities we now associate with Volvo Group transmissions, with an intelligent shifting strategy and excellent automated clutch control at low speeds. Depressing the dash-mounted rocker button when venturing onto challenging terrain indeed gave us an advantage, the modified shifting parameters allowing the truck to maintain full power in the selected gear without any worries of changing up.
We also evidenced the quickest automated gear shift so far encountered. Plodding gently up an arduous 25% hill in a 32-tonne Kerax, the Optidriver+ performed an instantaneous downshift from 2nd to 1st with no perceptible loss of momentum. Replicating the seamless transmission of power previously associated with an Allison automatic, but without the fuel penalty, the new Renaults now make a genuine case for two-pedal trucks for on-site applications.
Transfer of technology isn't automatic
Peter Kurej, marketing 
manager for Renault's construction range, insists that the new off-road Optidriver+ won't appear in Volvo's tipper chassis. He says: "The situation with AB Volvo is that we share hardware, but we each have our distinct solutions for our own needs. If Volvo Trucks wants an off-road mode it will need to develop it itself!"
But Kurej admits that using the Volvo Group auto-shift gearbox has proven the ideal solution within Renault's own products. "If we'd used the ZF transmission we wouldn't have had the same speed of shift that we achieve with the Group gearbox" he explains. Daf will no doubt be keen to challenge this statement when it launches its own construction-optimised version of the ZF AS-Tronic transmission later this summer.
Approximately 60% of new Premium on-road chassis are now supplied with the Optidriver+ gearbox, says Kurej, who claims that Renault has enormous confidence in customer acceptance for two-pedal construction trucks. "Next year we will sell a minimum of 7,000 Optidriver+ gearboxes in our Kerax and Lander ranges," he predicts.