In a significant leap forward for the automotive industry, MAN has become the first commercial vehicle manufacturer to send a level 4 autonomous truck onto the motorway in Germany. The test truck successfully completed a 10km journey on the A9 between the Allershausen and Furholzen junctions. It marks the initiation of a series of tests on motorways as the manufacturer works towards series production of autonomous trucks by the end of the decade.
Alexander Vlaskamp, Chairman of the Executive Board of MAN Truck & Bus, expressed, “We are taking another big step towards autonomous commercial vehicles, the second major future field alongside the switch to CO2 drivers. Further hub-to-hub projects will follow from 2025, but then in typical customer applications. We are thus taking the next development step towards series production of autonomous trucks towards the end of the decade.”
In the future, Autobahn GmbH will be responsible for approving operating areas on motorways for the series approval of autonomous vehicles. The vehicle operator specifies the routes on which its vehicles with autonomous driving functions are to drive, and Autobahn GmbH then checks.
Dr. Volker Wissing, Federal Minister for Digital Affairs and Transport, added, “The ever-increasing volume of transport, coupled with the worsening shortage of drivers, is a challenge for society as a whole. Autonomous trucks can help to alleviate the situation. In addition, the intelligent networking of freight transport offers the opportunity to make transshipment from road to rail more efficient and thus strengthen climate-friendly combined transport.”
MAN has been driving autonomous driving forward for many years with various research and development projects. From 2019 to 2023, it worked in the ANITA project with partners Deutsche Bahn, Fresenius University of Applied Sciences, and Gotting KG, focusing on the complete digital integration of an autonomous truck into the logistics process of container handling from road to rail.
The project is specifically implementing the law on autonomous driving passed in Germany in 2021, which already allows driverless driving on clearly defined routes and with technical supervision. Practical test drives of the prototype with a safety driver on the motorway are planned at the end of the project.
To date, MAN has filed 133 patent applications in the field of autonomous driving, 33 of which have already been granted.
In the UK, the Government announced self-driving legislation in the King's Speech in November last year. It said the automated vehicles bill will unlock a "transport revolution" by enabling the safe deployment of self-driving vehicles. It argues that the new legislation will release the sector's huge growth potential, allowing the UK to create a market of up to £42 billion and create 38,000 skilled jobs by 2035.
