Trucks in action
Events
Thanks to the Stability Control Assist system the slick artificial ice track at the road safety centre becomes less daunting – even for visitors who get behind the wheel themselves.
“Seeing the vehicles exhibited in the trade fair hall is one thing, but really experiencing technology at first hand is something else,” says Rüdiger Böhm enthusiastically. Just a few minutes ago the founder of Böhm Güterverkehrs GmbH, who started out with one truck in 1972 and now owns a fleet of more than 100 trucks, steered a new Actros safely across an artificial ice track. Now he witnesses how Stability Control Assist prevents a fully-loaded Actros with a high centre of gravity from tipping over in a sharp bend.
Like many other visitors to the 2014 IAA, Böhm did not miss out on a chance to take a small excursion to the outdoor road safety centre located near the exhibition site. While the trade fair events are in full swing in hall 14/15, the Mercedes-Benz Driving Experience is also proving a real attraction for visitors. They are given the opportunity to observe how the pioneering technology of Mercedes-Benz vehicles works in practice – and even take to the wheel themselves at three driving stations. 25 professional DriverTrainers and more than 25 trucks bearing the famous star are constantly on the move on each of the trade fair days as the Driving Experience offers a vast programme of test and demo drives.
Despite the extremely high centre of gravity in the trailer and abrupt braking manoeuvres in tight curves, the Stability Control Assist system rendered the support wheels on the Arocs used in the demonstration unnecessary.
At the “Off-road” driving station, visitors with a truck driving licence can get behind the wheel of one of six new Arocs equipped with a turbo retarder clutch and attempt to master the impressive inclines, gradients and slopes. They are ably assisted by the DriverTrainers who provide tips and advice on the correct use of the drive systems and thus guarantee a safe ride. Apart from the Arocs trucks, some of which are equipped with four-wheel drive, visitors can also test drive a 4x4 Atego, a Unimog 5023, a Zetros and even a Fuso Canter 4x4 on the off-road terrain. The DriverTrainers are also on hand to drive those visitors who do not have a truck driving licence safely around the course.
In the “Safety” training segment, the Actros demonstrates the features of its Stability Control Assist system on an artificial ice track, while the “Efficiency” station focuses on presenting vehicles equipped with FleetBoard EcoSupport and Proximity Control Assist. Visitors are also shown a spectacular demonstration of how effective the Active Brake Assist 3 system is during an automatic emergency braking manoeuvre by a new Actros coming to a halt in front of a moving and a stationary obstacle.
Each of the three different driving stations of the “Driving Experience” – “Off-road”, “Safety” and “Efficiency and comfort” – is an adventure. And each gives visitors the chance to experience, marvel and learn, irrespective of whether they choose to get behind the wheel themselves or prefer to be chauffered around the track by one of the professional DriverTrainers.
The reason is simple: although the turbo retarder clutch for the new Actros might sound convincing in theory, it is even more impressive when one has a chance to really feel it in action. Anyone who has ever held a 31-ton Arocs in position on a steep slope without a brake, using only the gas pedal, might be completely lost for words when they experience how simple it is to manoeuvre a truck on off-road terrain with this wear-free system. Visitors can also see the outstanding technology of Mercedes-Benz Trucks up close on the artificial ice track or during demonstrations of other chassis stabilizing systems.
Seasoned truck drivers in particular will benefit from getting behind the wheel themselves at the Mercedes-Benz Driving Experience. In principle, their experience enables them to tackle challenging driving situations correctly, but the advice and tips they receive from the DriverTrainers as to which technology should best be deployed in which situation ensures that the vehicle avoids potentially hazardous situations in the first place. Which of the programmes in the Mercedes automatic PowerShift system is best suited to which situation? The DriverTrainers are optimally qualified to answer the important questions put by those drivers who need to apply this technology every day.
Visitors to the 2014 IAA Commercial Vehicles trade fair who would like to take part in the Driving Experience should register in hall 14/15 of the exhibition centre at the rear of the info counter. Here they will be appointed a time slot for their free entry to the shuttle-bus from the exhibition site to the outside driving centre. After completing their Driving Experience, which lasts around one hour, visitors are driven back to the trade fair site in a shuttle-bus.
As a DriverTrainer at Mercedes-Benz Trucks, Rudi Hartwig is one of 25 colleagues responsible for assisting and instructing visitors to the Mercedes-Benz Driving Experience at the 65th IAA Commercial Vehicles trade fair in Hanover. Born and bred in Hamburg, Hartwig shows visitors to the outside road safety centre in Hanover-Laatzen how reliable trucks from Mercedes-Benz prove themselves to be in practice with respect to “Safety”, “Efficiency and Comfort” as well as in “Off-road” conditions. During the “Off-road” experience, customers can see first-hand how the new Arocs equipped with turbo retarder clutch or the Atego 4x4 deal with the challenges of a demanding obstacle course. Visitors to the IAA with the appropriate driver's licence are even given the chance to get behind the wheel and test the most extreme gradients and slopes themselves – always accompanied by DriverTrainers like Hartwig.
The “Driving Experience” programme offers numerous demanding routes and driving challenges. How do you manage to keep a cool head?
Hartwig: It's just great fun. The customers are friendly and they enjoy themselves. They're curious and are fascinated by the technology on show here. It's an excellent experience.
One can tell that you and your colleagues are really enthusiastic. Don't you get bored after 30 rounds of the track?
Hartwig: When we drive the 4-axle Arocs, we're moving an overall mass of around 31 metric tons on account of the truck's load of gravel. That's a highlight, even for us as experienced DriverTrainers. When we take our foot of the gas pedal and feel the load of more than 30 tons shift towards the rear and the turbo retarder clutch engages – it's a really impressive feeling.
Shouldn't the gradients and inclines on the off-road course be even steeper so as to test the limits of these new vehicles and the technical features in the Mercedes-Benz trucks, for example in an Arocs equipped with a turbo retarder clutch and Hydraulic Auxiliary Drive?
Hartwig: In actual fact, we are a long way from reaching the technical limits on this off-road course. But that's not the point here. These are commercial vehicles and working machines. And they have to be operated in the correct way. And that is where we offer our support to those colleagues who have registered for the Driving Experience as visitors to the IAA.
Did you put in a few practice sessions on the course in the run-up to the IAA?
Hartwig: Of course we practiced. Simply because safety has to be guaranteed at all times. Sometimes we accompany customers with little experience so we have to know how to get them around the course safely and at which point it might be advisable to give them advice. Also, it's important to let customers get a complete overview of the technology and to give them an enjoyable experience.
Do you sometimes break out in a cold sweat when you accompany someone as a co-driver?
Hartwig: I've been a driving instructor for over 30 years and I know what it's like to be in the passenger seat. We have customers who spend every day operating in off-road conditions like quarries for example, but we also have lots of drivers for whom it's the first time they've ever experienced anything like this. But that's what we're here for: to support customers with respect to safety but also vehicle technology and vehicle operation.
Comment
Please log in to post a comment.
No comments yet