What will the future Freightliner look like? Much of that information is hidden behind locked doors at Freightliner offices in Portland, Ore.

But in a speech during a Society of Automotive Engineers Blue Ribbon Panel on Nov. 17, Freightliner president Jim Hebe offered a peak at future directions planned in developing trucks.

On fuel economy:

“As long as I’ve been in the business, people have been saying that fuel economy in a heavy-duty diesel truck has been taken about as far as it can go,” Hebe said. “Well, highway truck fuel economy has about doubled in the last 15 years or so, and through incremental or major means, I wouldn’t bet against it gaining another 20 per cent or more over the next 15 years.

“Trailers represent the most obvious opportunity for aerodynamic improvement, and as far as we know, the last known extensive studies on trailer aerodynamics were made in the ’70s,” Hebe added. “We can’t do everybody’s research and development for them, but we’ll have to take action here if no one else will.”

On electronics:

With the approved communications standard for ABS warning lights, there is a wide range of possibilities for communicating between tractors and trailers, he said.

“Along those same lines, we are engaged in fundamental research into software/hardware interfaces and the networking standards to bring electronic options together – for voice-activated accessories, for example, and for data communications beyond the vehicle itself.”

On safety:

Watch for a new collision warning system with new capabilities, such as the ability to warn of oncoming bridge heights, Hebe said. “Systems which warn of impending rollover conditions are also in the works, as are driver drowsiness warning systems.

“Daimler is also developing automatic driving systems, including not only sytems actuated by embedded roadway controls, but also systems that operate by automatic recognition and interpretation of road signs and driving conditions.”

On the environment:

Freightliner plans to fund a program in 1999 to develop a fuel-cell-powered auxiliary power unit for sleepers, with waste limited to carbon dioxide, water and only a miniscule amount of carbon monoxide.

“Daimler has developed the manufacturing processes to produce fuel cells with sufficiently high power, acceptable lifetimes and affordable costs. Recently they have increased the power density of fuel cells by an order of 10,” he said.

How far will truck technology progress? The best-planned predictions can often fall short.

Said Hebe, “It’s been less than a century since the commissioner of the U.S. Office of Patents smugly declared that ‘everything that can been invented has been invented’.” n