Automotive

Samsung's transparent Safety Truck hits the road en route to global rollout

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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 on the back, made up of four weatherproof monitors
The Safety Truck is Samsung's solution to a problem experienced by many a motorist
After revealing the test vehicle last year, Samsung has now deployed the commercial version of the truck in La Plata, Argentina
The electronics giant will carry out four months of reliability testing of its Safety Truck
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 on the back, made up of four weatherproof monitors
The electronics giant will carry out four months of reliability testing of its Safety Truck
After revealing the test vehicle last year, Samsung has now deployed the commercial version of the truck in La Plata, Argentina
View gallery - 7 images

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.

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 on the back, made up of four weatherproof monitors

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.

Source: Samsung via ZDNet

View gallery - 7 images
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6 comments
Mel Tisdale
Nice idea, but what about the aerodynamics, which will rapidly coat the screens in dust, mud, etc?
Mr. Hensley Garlington
I've never seen the back of a trailer like these so coated in dirt or dust that I couldn't read what's written on it. Perhaps a quick wash?
GlassHalfEmpty
@Mel Tisdale,
You are missing the point of this. Actual usefulness is not first, second, or third grade goal here.
bergamot69
Problem here in the UK, and I suspect the rest of Europe- where commercial vehicles above 3.5 tons are restricted to 56 MPH (and fitted with a governor which won't let their drivers exceed that except when heavily laden enough to do so on downhill gradients) is that quite often it isn't lack of forward vision that prevent overtaking but the fact that 4 lane roads have grass central reservations- and some truckers take a perverse pleasure in driving side-by-side in their speed restricted vehicles for 20 miles or more.
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.
Sagebrush
I drove semi trucks for over 30 years. I drove trucks in all of the "lower 48 states and most of Canada. Also all over Iraq and Kuwait... Millions of miles without any chargeable accidents. One thing that I learned is, you can't fix stupid when it gets behind the wheel of any vehicle, large or small, anywhere you go... I seriously doubt this will be effective in reducing accidents.
Stephen N Russell
For all semis nationwide, love this esp for night in Central CA area.