Three autonomous Mercedes-Benz trucks just platooned across Europe

Mercedes' autonomous Actros trucks have been driving on public roads in Germany since last fall. On Monday, however, they rolled into the Netherlands.

The trio made the 375-mile trip from Stuttgart to Rotterdam to demonstrate their platooning prowess -- the ability to tightly group together on the freeway.

The demonstration was Mercedes' way of showing its support for the European Truck Platooning Challenge 2016 initiated by the Netherlands government.

Platooning, or what most human drivers would call "tailgating," actually saves fuel and cuts pollution -- up to 10%, according to Mercedes. That's because instead of each individual truck expelling energy as it plows through the wind, the forward truck plays windbreak while the other two fall closely into its slipstream. That causes the two trailing trucks to use far less fuel.

Unlike human drivers, autonomous trucks can platoon safely. That's because they have lightning-fast reaction times supported by a slew of sensors. For example, it takes a human around 1.4 seconds to react on the road. Mercedes Highway Pilot Connect system, however, takes just 0.1 second.

Additionally, and critically, the Actros trucks also communicate with one another through Wi-Fi-based, vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication systems. So not only are the trucks watching one another -- and the road and traffic around them -- but they are also constantly communicating what they're all doing and seeing.

The result of widespread truck platooning would reduce the stress and physical strain of driving for the humans behind the wheel. It would also lower the cost of operating the trucks. And it would also open up space on the freeway.

Now if we could just get Prius drivers to platoon, too, the roadways would be a lot more pleasurable.

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