His title is president and CEO of Portland-based Daimler Trucks The United States and Canada, however Martin Daum states he needs to actually be called the “CFT– chief fortune teller.”
Individuals often ask Daum about driverless vehicles. It is among today’s most popular topics around the world and in the area, where Google is testing self-driving automobiles in Kirkland. And while computerized automobiles are one thing, hulking semis barreling down the road without motorists are rather another.
To Daum, who talked in Bellevue Thursday at a Puget Sound Business Journal Live event, getting driverless trucks on the road is similar to NASA’s moonshot. He remained in a driverless truck for a 25-mile test trip on highways and regional roadways just recently, but stated not to anticipate them to see them as part of routine traffic in the future. However one day you will.
One day was a style throughout the program. Daum stated it’s simple to address concerns about the future. His recommendations: always start your response with “one day.” After that, you can say anything, Daum joked.
“If it occurs, you can always state, ‘I told you,'” he said.
Daum, 56, stated he does not expect to see self-driving trucks during his professional life.
The innovation exists for computer systems to safely operate trucks that are progressing on stretches of wide freeways. Daum said speeding up and braking is actually more fuel efficient and much safer when the driving is committed technology, he said.
Two-way roadways are a different story, or as Daum stated, “If you have a couple of inches (between you) and approaching traffic, that changes everything.”
Finding the solution to this will take time, but one day engineers will do that, stated Daum.
