Craning your neck to check for oncoming traffic can be a futile exercise when you're trailing a mammoth semi-trailer on a single lane highway. If only you could see through that huge mass of moving steel, right? After a trial last year, Samsung has again taken a "transparent" Safety Truck to the roads of Argentina for further testing, with a view to expanding the technology globally later in the year.
The Safety Truck is Samsung's solution to a problem experienced by many a motorist. With a front-mounted camera, the system captures the view of the road in front of the truck and streams it to a large display made up of four weatherproof monitors on the back. The idea is that by allowing trailing drivers a clear view of the road ahead it can reduce the amount of traffic accidents that occur when attempting overtake.
After revealing a test vehicle last year, Samsung has now deployed the commercial version of the truck in La Plata, Argentina for extensive testing. The location was chosen as a site due to the high number of traffic accidents that occur while motorists are overtaking one another on Argentinian roads.
The electronics giant will carry out four months of reliability testing, according to ZDNet, and will then begin expanding availability of the Safety Truck around the world.
You are missing the point of this. Actual usefulness is not first, second, or third grade goal here.
It is extremely selfish behaviour that doesn't benefit either driver, but is incredibly frustrating to faster vehicle drivers who want to drive up to (and possibly beyond) the 70 MPH speed limit for such roads.