TECHNOLOGY
On course for the future
The commercial van and its people carrier equivalent will be an altogether different kettle of fish compared to today’s rendition, writes Lerato Matebese
We recently attended the Mercedes-Benz Commercial Vehicle Innovation Campus in Stuttgart and it got us intrigued about the prospects of the future of the van as we know it today. As part of the firm’s advance strategic initiative, Mercedes-Benz Vans is evolving from a van manufacturer into a supplier of holistic system solutions. Experts say the number of objects in the world connected to the internet is estimated to be in the region of 13.4-billion and they forecast the number to grow to a staggering 38.5-billion in 2020, which is a monumental jump over a five-year period. Let us paint a scenario of sorts. It is the year 2025 and digitalisation is the norm. Almost everything that required human control and intervention is no longer. We have seen automation playing a pivotal role in vehicle construction and now this looks to spill into the commercial vehicle sector. Deliveries, for instance, will require less — if not complete — autonomous execution. Yes, I know, this could mean a l...
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