Day 1 At IAA: Boring?

IAA, Europe’s largest commercial vehicle trade show is going on this week in Hanover, Germany.  Diesel Progress’s Roberta Prandi reports on what happened on Day 1, typically the busiest press conference and new product announcement day of the show, which runs through September 29^th.

If I have to be really honest, reporting from the first day at the IAA Commercial Vehicles show in Hanover, Germany, got a bit boring. After all, in how many different ways can you define the concept: truck of the future?

Z Truck (Iveco), Volvo Concept Truck, Vision X (Bosch), Innovation Truck 2016 (ZF), are just some of the concepts presented as future developments in on-highway trucks. And this only after the first half press day at the show!

The main trends behind these developments sound familiar as well: connectivity, automation, electric drive, and alternative fuels (mainly natural gas – whether compressed or liquefied).

Nothing new under the Hanover sun, then? Actually all of the above – although a well-known refrain – is about innovation to its highest degree.

What these trucks will be capable of in the future (read: when appropriate traffic regulations and insurance policies will be in place) is truly astounding.

Trucks driving autonomously is just one side of the picture. The broader view is that traffic will become safer and more efficient, while the driver could become an all-encompassing operator, who can handle orders and logistics while his/her vehicle is connected to a platoon – and this is just one example.

One cannot be but excited, thinking what the future of mobility can be for on-highway vehicles – including cars – to drive on their own in a regulated, smooth, stress-free manner.  What could be more endearing than picturing a time when we will not be sitting in traffic jams with rising blood pressure levels, but rather relax behind the wheel as our vehicle joins a snakelike line of vehicles towards our final destination? I could even profit of the spare time in the car to have an earnest mother-daughter conversation with my two teenage girls…

A pity that, by the time this vision becomes reality, they will probably be having the conversation with their teenage kids. Or maybe it will be just be a virtual talk.