Mercedes Benz Actros 'Safety truck' demonstrates 'Active Brake Assist' for Biglorryblog at the test track this morning!

Biglorryblog witnessed this demonstration today of the Actros Safety Truck today at the Stuttgart factory test track and in particular its 'Active Brake Assist' system which reduces the risk of classic rear-end shunts when a truck runs into the back of a slow-moving car or queue of stationary traffic at high speeds. The forward facing radar (which is part of the tractor's Adaptive Cruise Control) detects this car bimbling along at 20km/h from about 110m away (the truck is travelling at 56km/h with the cruise control ON). As the gap closes, the truck driver gets a series of warnings on his dash display and if he still doesn't do anything the system auomatically applies the service brakes to avoid a collision...as you see on my short video clip. The car driver meanwhile carries on in complete ignorance not knowing how close he came to being hit up the rear by a 40-tonne Actros! I have to say it must take some nerve on the test driver's part not to brake when everything tells you to! I have a couple more to post up shortly from the test day.