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Mercedes teases a new Maybach concept convertible

Once again, Mercedes is taking a Vision concept to the Pebble Beach Concours this year. To start generating excitement, the company has released a teaser trailer for the car, and effectively no other information. But we think we've pieced together what the car is. Let's look at the video first. It shows a voluptuous blue body. It's all curves and clean lines inside and out. It also has an impressively prodigious prow with a proud three-pointed star at the front. The interior is all white with very little detail, and in addition to chrome, there are many copper trim pieces. There appear to be only two seats, too. Toward the end, we see a strip of copper trim on the outside as well, and just before the shot changes, we can see a bit of white interior that indicates this is a convertible. So we know this is an elegant, luxurious roadster. Is there anything else we can discern? Well, it seems Mercedes may have accidentally revealed the name of the car, or at least what it's based on. The video's file name includes the words "Maybach six." That happens to be the name of last year's Mercedes-Maybach coupe concept. On top of that, there's a striking resemblance between the long, flowing hoods of both cars. So it seems like a pretty safe bet that Mercedes will show the convertible version of that car, which was 18 feet long, and produced 738 horsepower from a quartet of electric motors. We'll find out if we're right when the car is revealed at Pebble Beach. Related Video: Image Credit: Mercedes-Benz Design/Style Maybach Mercedes-Benz Technology Emerging Technologies Convertible Concept Cars Electric Luxury Pebble Beach

Mercedes was set to sell version of Nissan Titan, now Infiniti might instead

Mercedes-Benz Titan. Mercedes-Benz Frontier. Mercedes-Benz pickup truck. None of these things roll off the tongue particularly well. We'd like to think that's the reason Daimler opted to kill the idea of rebadged Titan and Frontier pickups from corporate ally Nissan. In reality, the execution before the Frankfurt Motor Show was due to more complicated issues.
Yes, Mercedes, byword for German luxury, style and quality, would have slapped a three-pointed star on a pair of Japanese pickup trucks that have failed to resonate with consumers in the world's largest truck market. That slapping of badges isn't much of an exaggeration, at least on the outside. According to the report from Road & Track, the truck's front clip would have been tweaked, but beyond that, the sheetmetal would have been unchanged. The interior would have received a more thorough going-over by the team at Mercedes, while the suspension and noise, vibration and harshness tuning would have also received significant attention.
The trucks would have ended up being sold through the light-commercial branch of Mercedes-Benz - the same folks that will happily sell you a Sprinter van - had the deal gone through. Issues arose, though, first with the engines. Mercedes wanted a wider range of powertrains to allow it to tune models for specific markets, while Nissan said it couldn't engineer the wide variety of engines that MB wanted to drop under the hood. For the smaller truck, meanwhile, MB was interested in a hybrid or plug-in variant, according to R&T, although this was also shot down by Nissan.

Weekly Recap: Autonomous driving goes commercial in Nevada

Nevada granted Daimler Trucks North America the first license to run an autonomous commercial vehicle on public roads in the United States Tuesday, marking another milestone in the technology's rapid advancement. Gov. Brian Sandoval and Daimler truck chief Wolfgang Bernhard promptly used the license to lap Highway 15 near Las Vegas in a newly revealed Freightliner Inspiration Truck. It was a clear signal that autonomous driving is big-rig reality, though it's still a long way from widespread use. Nevada certified two of Daimler's Freightliner Inspiration Trucks, which use the company's Highway Pilot system with a stereo camera, radar, and lane-keeping collision-prevention features to regulate the brakes and steering. The radar component has a long-range sensor that can cover 820 feet at an 18-degree angle and a shorter-range unit that stretches 230 feet at a 130-degree angle. The Inspiration trucks are based on the existing Freightliner Cascadia Evolution model used on US roads. In addition to the autonomous technologies, it also has futuristic design cues, including blue lighting in the front and a new hood and grille. While there are only two Freightliner Inspiration trucks in existence, Daimler expects to bring the Highway Pilot system into mass-produced big rigs by 2025, in time to capitalize on the market's predicted growth. The German truckmaker predicts the global hauling market will triple by 2050, and the United States will be a key part of that growth. Trucks carry 69.1 percent the nation's domestic freight tonnage and hauled 9.7 billion tons of freight in 2013, according to the American Trucking Association. Daimler expects autonomous driving to augment this growth, and perhaps evolve the role of the truck driver. Still, the company points out autonomous tech is not meant to replace drivers, but to assist them and relieve fatigue and monotony on long hauls. The driver has to stay in control for passing, in city traffic, and when hooking up the trailer. The company said autonomous driving also offers the potential for improved fuel economy – tests showed a five-percent gain – and lower maintenance costs. Daimler also said the technology could reduce congestion on the road. Much of this is attributable to the constant flow of traffic, which is aided by autonomous driving. While the benefits are becoming increasingly apparent, autonomous technology is still met with skepticism.