Driving a heavy truck in city traffic on sometimes narrow roads and in confusing intersections is a major challenge for many professional drivers. This applies in particular to turning maneuvers. In such situations, the Turn Assist developed by Mercedes-Benz Trucks can warn the driver of cyclists, e-scooters or pedestrians in the surveillance zone of the radar on the passenger side using a multi-stage process of visual and acoustic signals. Since 2016, this S1R Turn Assist system, which is fully integrated into the vehicle architecture, has been available ex works for many models in the Actros, Arocs and Econic series, and since 2019 it can also be retrofitted to numerous models in these series (from model year 2017).

"We are delighted that more and more customers are placing their trust in the Mercedes-Benz Trucks Turn Assist system and giving their drivers this important safety assistance system," says Andreas von Wallfeld, Head of Marketing, Sales and Services at Mercedes-Benz Trucks. "We have been seeing a positive trend in most European markets for years. This year, we are seeing the greatest demand in Germany and Switzerland, where around 85 percent of the Actros models for which the system is available have already been ordered with the Turn Assist system," continued Wallfeld.

For the Atego and those Actros, Antos or Arocs model series that cannot yet be equipped with the Sideguard Assist, Mercedes-Benz Genuine Accessories has been offering the Sideguard Assist, basic for retrofitting since the middle of the year.

From June 2021, Mercedes-Benz Trucks will offer Active Sideguard Assist (ASGA), another potentially life-saving safety assistance system: The brand will be the first manufacturer to offer a so-called active turning assistant, which can no longer only warn the driver of cyclists, e-scooters or pedestrians located and moving on the passenger side, but can also initiate automated braking until the vehicle comes to a standstill up to its own turning speed of 20 km/h if the driver does not respond to the warning tones.