I know this is only related to railroad competition but check out some of the truck innovations here, especially the rear view mirrors. Also impressed with the emergency stop at the very end of the video.
Top speed in EU of 90 KPH. That won’t sell in the US truck market.
Absolutely - even those highways with truck speed restrictions are usually around 100 KPH (~60 MPH). Need 120 KPH (75 MPH) in a lot of states.
I wonder what the price premium is for a M. B. over its competition. Looked impressive. Wonder how long to upgrade truckstops to have Hydrogen on tap.
Mercedes Truck and Bus group will not sell most models in the United States, which is too bad because their city bus models are also really, really cool and smooth riding. I think as a country we are missing out. Mercedes decision based on business thinking they would be canabalizing their other brands in this market (Frieghtliner & Navistar for example).
Not that their other markets don’t have safety regulations, but I wonder if US regulations in that regard are a tripping point.
The biggest problem with getting some of these things into the USA isn’t going to be the company making it but the FMCSA the regulation agency that would have to approve anything. It’s taken 10 years of hard pushing to get certain items the industry wants approved. Things like a real regulation on what is medical treatment after an accident. The lawyers were screaming that if their clients had so much as an x-ray afterwards then they were injured by an OTR truck in the accident. Finally got the new regulation passed that it requires real treatment for a real injury not just soft tissue bruising that qualifies as an injury in an accident.
We’re also trying to get better brakes and tighter standards there but yet again the Fed’s are dragging their feet. Air disc’s are lighter fade resistant and stop 50 percent faster yet time after time they’re shot down as the new requirement for safety requirements. The cameras will not be allowed for one reason what happens I’d one failed.