DASH OF difference
It was obvious to anyone at this year’s Brisbane Truck Show that even after three years of solid growth in the wake of its new model range, Mercedes-Benz has not let the grass grow under its feet. Not for a moment. Right now, for instance, Benz is up to its beak in a detailed validation program of new and enhanced technologies which, if all goes to plan, will make the star shine even brighter …
A few years back at the Tokyo Motor Show, Daimler’s Japanese juggernaut Fuso had heads turning with an electrically-driven concept truck sporting a swag of futuristic features.
Fuso called the truck ‘Vision One’ and appropriately perhaps, one of its many technological highlights was a digital mirror system of outboard cameras feeding images onto ‘mirrors’ mounted on the A-pillars inside the cab.
While European reports several years earlier had confirmed Daimler’s development of a high-tech alternative to conventional glass mirrors, Fuso’s preview of the system now known simply as ‘MirrorCam’ was the first sight for many people, including a small bunch of Australian truck writers at the 2017 Tokyo show.
In just a minute or two inside the cab, it was easy to be impressed with the technology and the potential. Nonetheless, it seemed unlikely that Australia would be on the radar anytime soon for a trial of this radical and somewhat futuristic mirror system, let alone seeing it offered as part of the local line-up. Or at least that’s how it seemed until this year’s Brisbane Truck Show where Mercedes-Benz took the technological bull by the horns and showcased a truck equipped with a string of advanced new features headed by ‘MirrorCam’.
Best of all, as local Benz boffins were eager to point out, this was far more than just a superficial attempt to impress
