LIGHTS, CAMERAS, ACTROS
Mercedes-Benz has launched the new Actros; the first ever truck in Australia with cameras for mirrors. Of course, those lucky enough to have attended last year’s Brisbane Truck Show were given a view of this marvel.
But the fact remains, the new Actros is the first vehicle on Australian roads to replace traditional outside mirrors with cameras – full stop.
No carmaker has yet managed this technological feat, not Tesla, not Rolls Royce and not even… Mercedes-Benz. So much for the idea that truck technology has to lag behind that of cars.
The MirrorCam feature, which is not standard but an option on the Benz heavy hauler, is the headline grabber for the updated version of a truck the manufacturer continues to put through its paces on the open road.
That said, there are plenty of other improvements Mercedes-Benz says will ‘markedly’ reduce fuel consumption on a truck that was already seen to be pretty good on that score after its 2016 Australian introduction.
And it’s not all in the mechanics.
One key fuel saver is the Predictive Powertrain Control system that uses topographic map data to anticipate terrain and select the optimum shift pattern
