Mack Uses Virtual Reality to Show Off Vehicles, Technologies

Screenshot via Mack Trucks

Mack Trucks is offering customers a 360-degree virtual reality tour of its trucks to show what it is like to sit in the cab and ride in a vehicle while on the job.

Virtual reality is a computer-generated simulation of a three-dimensional image or environment that allows for viewer interactions. Mack used virtual reality technology to better demonstrate features and benefits of the Pinnacle, Granit and Titan models equipped with an mDrive HD 13-speed automated manual transmission.

Using virtual reality headgear, Google Cardboard or a smartphone, viewers can look 360 degrees to see the cab interior in its entirety, giving a better feel for what it is like to be in a Mack truck while it's operating in quarries and on the highway.

Google Cardboard is a device made of cardboard that folds into a viewer that can attach to a compatible Android smartphone, turning it into a virtual reality headset.

“Through virtual reality, customers and the general public now have the opportunity to truly understand what it's like to be in the cab of a Mack truck as it gets the job done,” said John Walsh, Mack vice president of global brand and marketing. “Our trucks, when paired with the mDrive HD 13-speed, are unmatched in terms of power and performance, and now we are offering everyone a unique experience to better demonstrate this.”

The virtual reality experience lets users virtually sit in a Mack Granite model in the mud on a job site to see how it drives up and down steep grades or on a fully loaded Pinnacle driving up and down a 15% and 20% grade.

To experience Mack's virtual reality, visit MackTrucks.com/VR to sign up for a free Google Cardboard device and link it to the Mack virtual reality app. The virtual videos will also be posted to the Mack website, but will not be as immersive as the Google Cardboard version.

Related: Commentary: Driving Into the Future

Follow @HDTrucking on Twitter

ShipX freight booking site rebranded FreightorGator

read more

Connected vehicles: Hot? Or not?

Well here's an interesting tidbit: According to IHS Automotive, 55% of annual global new vehicle sales in 2020 will be vehicles that are connected – and, by that year, nearly half of the global fleet of vehicles in operation will be connected as well.

read more

NYC Sanitation trucks do much more than collect refuse

NEW YORK. It collects some 9,000 tons of refuse and recyclables a day, but that's just one of the jobs carried out by the New York City Dept. of Sanitation (DSNY) fleet of 2,500 heavy-duty collection trucks. They serve as protection for presidents and popes, carry people to safety during floods and hurricanes, lead recovery efforts after disasters and, perhaps most importantly, marshal their full strength within an hour to clean the city streets of snow even when it hits record levels like the 30-inch snow storm last winter.

read more

Cummins new X Series: Adding up the improvements

EAST LIBERTY, OHIO. When going out for a spin in a truck powered by the new Cummins X15 engine, it's good to have the program technical leader in the cab to answer questions. Even better, the engine is so quiet the conversation could've been conducted at a whisper. But the next-generation X Series is not something Tim Proctor, Cummins ‎Director, Engineering, wants to keep quiet about.

read more

A long time coming

When we think of technological developments that take a long time to make it to market we most likely think of thinks like engines, transmissions and new cab designs. We realize that design engineers work for years on components like this and that they go through round after round of test.

read more

Cummins Engine Rollout: Day 2

At the 4,500-acre Transportation Research Center (TRC) proving grounds in East Liberty, OH, Cummins put its new 2017-compliant X15 and X12 engines through their paces, with trucks equipped with both the new engines as well as older Cummins models made available for "riding and driving" in a variety of scenarios; everything from engine braking deceleration tests on a one-mile straightaway to acceleration-cruising speed-deceleration runs on the facility's 7.5 mile oval track and low-speed maneuvering through a slalom course set up on a skid pad.

read more