No matter whether someone is in a car, on a bike or on foot, to name just three examples – if there is an accident involving a truck, the collision can quickly end with serious or even fatal injuries for the ‘weaker’ party, as they have no chance against the much "stronger" truck due to the huge difference in mass. However, a collision between two trucks can also result in grave consequences for those involved. For Mercedes-Benz Trucks, the top priority has always been to ideally completely avoid this type of scenario or at the very least mitigate the consequences of accidents. That is why new safety and assistance systems are continually being developed and existing systems optimised specifically for the trucks. The Group's Commercial Vehicle Accident Research plays a central role in these efforts. With its accident analyses it prepares the foundations for continually introducing further improvements to the vehicles. "We consider our studies to be indispensable for assessing the behaviour of a truck in actual accidents," Kay Morschheuser, Head of Commercial Vehicle Accident Analyses at Mercedes-Benz Trucks, said.

This procedure has a tradition: since 1972, the commercial vehicle accident researchers at Mercedes-Benz Trucks have been examining selected accidents with Mercedes-Benz trucks throughout Germany using all the existing and ascertainable information, and documenting data on the course of those accidents, the vehicles involved and the damage – complemented by relevant research by the police rescue teams and experts. "We also look for conspicuous aspects pertaining to, for example, the frequency of types of accidents, the discernibility of certain patterns of events or to injuries to persons involved in accidents," Kay Morschheuser explains. Whereas initially the focus was only on passive safety systems such as the cab structure, restraint systems, front and rear underride guards as well as side protection, that focus was expanded with time – in line with technological developments in the vehicles – to include systems for active and integral safety. These include systems such as ABS – the Anti-lock Brake System, EBS – the Electronic Brake System and ESP – the Electronic Stability Program or Proximity Control Assist and Lane Keeping Assist as well as Active Brake Assist (ABA), Sideguard Assist or Active Drive Assist.

Based on their analyses, the accident researchers derive modification measures in close co-operation with the Development department which then often end in future Mercedes-Benz requirements. That is how, several years ago, the idea for Sideguard Assist was developed; since 2016 it has been available for many truck models ex works at Mercedes-Benz Trucks and within its system limits can contribute towards avoiding accidents with pedestrians and cyclists. Active Drive Assist which allows partially automated driving (level 2) in a truck for the first time ever as well as the MirrorCam instead of the common main and wide-angle mirrors are further more recent examples of the interplay between Accident Research and Development at Mercedes-Benz Trucks.

Crash Tests  

The analyses of Accident Research also go hand-in-hand with the crash tests that have been systematically carried out for years. In this regard the developers and safety experts at Daimler Truck AG have regularly developed their own standards and trials always oriented towards actual accidents in addition to the tests for cab rigidity in line with the EU standard ECE R 29. One of the most important crash tests is, for example, the impact with a platform vehicle mock-up which reproduces the typical rear-end collision between a truck and a truck driving ahead of it on the motorway. "In future we will reconstruct real accidents on the computer as a complement to the crash test," says Kay Morschheuser with a look to the future. The combination of crash simulation and accident reconstruction offers an opportunity to examine accidents more specifically and in more detail with freely selected parameters and thus to better understand the mechanisms in an actual accident. "Above all it is the circumstances which lead to an accident that are of particular interest to us," Kay Morschheuser adds. In view of the future increase in automated driving and, consequently, the need to have the corresponding systems able to reliably handle the numerous traffic situations, this is a decisive additional benefit.

As the "icing on the cake" of a solid vehicle safety development strategy, the crash tests form a sustainable unit with accident research. This approach also follows the holistic concept of "integral safety" which Mercedes-Benz is now pursuing more than ever, whereby the passive and active systems installed in the vehicle can provide support in four phases: first during driving, second in the event of danger, third in an accident and fourth after a collision.

A glance at general accident statistics reveals just how efficiently this concept, in particular, contributes to traffic safety along with many other measures. According to the German Federal Statistical Office the number of fatalities in accidents involving trucks in Germany dropped by around 60 percent between 1992 and 2018. The number of those seriously injured was reduced by about 45 percent during that time. And that despite an increase in transportation of around 80 percent. Accidents with serious consequences are much rarer, although their distribution by type of accident has remained almost unchanged. Rear-end collisions, accidents at junctions and accidents caused by the vehicle leaving its lane remain focal points. (MT)

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Coretura, a 50:50 joint venture between Daimler Truck and Volvo Group, has entered into an engineering agreement with Accenture to accelerate the development of a software platform for commercial vehicles.

The company, headquartered in Gothenburg, Sweden, currently employs over 100 engineers. It continues to recruit specialists in system architecture, high-performance computing and cloud infrastructure to support its roadmap, which targets the delivery of its first commercialised products towards the end of the decade.

Coretura intends to create a single software platform, language and standard for trucks, buses and other heavy-duty transport vehicles. The platform is designed to support vehicle lifecycles of more than 15 years, moving the industry away from projects that require custom software development for each new vehicle.

As the engineering partner, Accenture will support development across several areas, including:

• Electrical and Electronic (E/E) architecture
• Software abstraction and hardware integration
• Embedded software, middleware, and cybersecurity
• Functional safety and cloud infrastructure

The platform aims to provide a reusable software stack to lower costs and standardise time-to-market for global manufacturers. For fleet operators, the system is designed to allow for continuous software updates and performance upgrades delivered over the air.

Johan Lunden, CEO, Coretura, said, “Our purpose is to advance mobility at the speed of ideas, and that takes depth. Building a full-stack SDV platform demands expertise across embedded software, middleware, cybersecurity, and functional safety, all designed for vehicles with lifecycles measured in decades. Accenture’s reinvention capabilities let us move faster without compromising the standards our customers depend on. This is acceleration, not course correction.”

Rainer Oder, SDV Embedded Software Lead, Accenture, added, “Helping the industry advance software-defined vehicles is a priority for Accenture. Our landmark collaboration with Coretura is designed to change embedded software engineering for automotive platforms. Together, we are looking to solve the challenges of a fully software-defined architecture – addressing critical areas such as hardware abstraction, API management and AI-based engineering optimisations.”

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The ePlane Company has announced the completion of its full-scale electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft, the e200X. Designated PT-01, the prototype has successfully integrated all core subsystems into a single structure, marking the transition from design and simulation to physical testing.

The e200X is designed as a single airframe versatile enough to serve three distinct markets – Passenger Air Taxi, Urban Cargo Carrier and Air Ambulance.

The company emphasises that the aircraft was designed to be compact, allowing it to integrate into existing urban infrastructure without requiring significant city redesigns.

Developed at the company's own facilities in Chennai, the e200X features in-house development of major components, including propellers, airframe structure, landing gear and battery pack.

This vertical integration provides the company with control over performance, manufacturing costs, and iteration speed, having reached this milestone on approximately USD 21 million in funding.

With assembly complete, the e200X will now undergo ground testing, flight testing and certification.

Prof. Satya Chakravarthy, Founder, The ePlane Company, said, "We set out to build an electric aircraft to a world-class benchmark, engineered and manufactured in depth in India for the World.  We deliberately designed the e200X to be compact, because an aircraft that asks a city to rebuild itself around it will not solve the problem it was built to solve. The same airframe can move people as an air taxi, carry goods as a cargo aircraft, and save lives as an air ambulance, and it can do all three using the infrastructure cities already have. That combination of real capability and capital efficiency is how we intend to compete, and win, in markets around the world.”

The company’s board includes prominent figures such as Vishesh Rajaram (Speciale Invest), Eash Sundaram (JetBlue) and Aditya Ghosh (Homage, Akasa Air). The venture, incubated at IIT Madras, has also received international recognition, including being showcased at Bharat Innovates 2026 and featured in Nvidia Founder Jensen Huang’s GTC keynote.

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Chinese technology company Xiaomi has marked a new milestone for its automotive product offering with its electric vehicle.

The company has announced a significant milestone in autonomous vehicle technology by completing the first official autonomous lap of the Nurburgring Nordschleife circuit in Germany with the Xiaomi YU7 GT, equipped with a Track Package, navigating the 20.8 km circuit without a human driver, recording a lap time of 10:29.483.

Following this performance, the Nurburgring has introduced a new official vehicle category: Autonomous Driving (under Electric Vehicles).

The Xiaomi YU7 GT autonomously navigated all 73 corners of the Nordschleife, managing 300 metres of elevation change and varying road surface conditions. The performance was driven by Xiaomi’s autonomous driving system, which integrates the Xiaomi XLA architecture and the MiMo-Embodied foundation model introduced in March 2026. The end-to-end architecture enabled the vehicle to coordinate steering, braking and power delivery in real-time, maintaining stability under high-speed and high-load conditions.

Xiaomi’s autonomous driving programme has evolved since the 2024 launch of Xiaomi HAD. The current system moves beyond simple behaviour imitation toward autonomous decision-making and deeper environmental interpretation. The company stated that the Nurburgring project serves as a critical testing ground to collect data for refining vehicle dynamics modelling, control strategy optimisation and safety redundancy mechanisms.

This achievement underscores Xiaomi’s commitment to advancing artificial intelligence in the automotive sector through rigorous real-world validation.

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QuantumScape Corporation has announced a multi-year joint research agreement with Honda R&D Co., a subsidiary of Honda Motor Co.

The collaboration focuses on advancing QuantumScape’s solid-state lithium-metal battery platform, including the development of associated manufacturing processes.

This agreement follows a successful technology evaluation period during which Honda conducted a technical study and competitive benchmarking of QuantumScape’s battery platform.

Atsushi Ogawa, Chief Operating Officer, Research Center of Excellence, Honda R&D Co, said, “QS technology demonstrated compelling and unique advantages during our evaluation. We see potential for QS technology to add value across a range of applications, including automotive, and we are excited to move forward into the next phase of our partnership.”

Dr. Siva Sivaram, CEO and President, QuantumScape, added, “Honda is a leading global automaker renowned for its engineering excellence and product quality across automotive and other applications worldwide, and its evaluation represents one of the most rigorous assessments of our technology to date. This agreement reflects the growing confidence in QS solid-state lithium-metal batteries to enable safer, higher-density energy storage.”

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