Is This The Future of Trucking?

Is the future of highway safety a large TV-like screen on the rear of a trucker’s cargo bay? Trucking companies are asking if this new “safety truck” from Samsung with large real-time monitor displays will soon be adapted here in the U.S.

Samsung has introduced their “safety truck” which features large real-time monitors to allow drivers to see on-coming traffic ahead of the truck and safely pass.

Is This The Future of Trucking? Will Trucking Companies Adopt this New Innovation?

The truck, which was recently tested in Argentina, overcomes the potentially dangerous situation in which a driver in a passenger car on a narrow roadway is stuck behind a large rig and is unsure whether to overtake it because their view of the road ahead is obscured. The radical answer, according to Samsung, is a ‘see-through’ safety truck, allowing a driver to see on-coming traffic ahead of the truck and safely pass it.

The proposal and test are certainly generating a lot of buzz, especially among technophobes. The new truck is designed using a wireless camera on the truck’s front grille, which connects to four monitor displays on the rear of the truck to display on-coming traffic in real time providing drivers with a live stream to the screens displayed on the back of what is happening at the front of the truck.

Vehicles behind the truck can reduce blind spots and easily see if another car is approaching and pass the truck when it is safely possible. The technology has even been adapted with a night vision mode to allow the system to be fully functional after sunset.

Collision avoidance warning systems help to remove obstructions from a driver’s vision allowing them to safely complete a vehicle maneuver and provide the necessary information to make a prudent decision rather than an error in misjudging the gap or other car’s speed. Samsung decided to test its Safety Truck in Argentina because it has one of the highest numbers of traffic accidents in the world particularly on two-lane roads with cars trying to overtake trucks.

Not only will the Safety Truck help a driver overtake a truck safely, but another advantage is that it may reduce the risk of accidents caused by sudden braking or if animals are crossing the road.

However, there are many opponents to the new truck, even before it has been approved for use in the U.S. Those opposed to the new truck say that drivers could get distracted or confused watching the truck’s rear panels.

Opponents argue that the system may actually cause more problems than it actually proposes to solve. Questions that need to be answered are whether staring at a screen at night is conducive and what kind of effect will drivers’ eyes suffer from such an intense light?

Other opponents point to its high cost as a barrier to using the technology. Trucking companies would need to overcome the cost of installing and maintaining four displays per truck throughout their entire fleet.

Still others note the possibility of inclement weather and what would happen to the monitors or to the camera on the front bumper. Would they still be reliable?

While the new safety truck is getting plenty of publicity, there are currently no plans to immediately deploy the technology on Samsung trucks or anywhere else in the trucking industry. Samsung is taking next steps in Argentina and performing tests in order to comply with existing national protocols and obtain necessary permits and approvals.

The latest test drives have confirmed to Samsung that the technology works and can definitely save lives.