In its Vision Zero 2050 program, Mercedes R&D head says, Mercedes aims to eliminate accidents on the road by the year 2050 in the world.
The Vision Zero 2050 initiative was introduced at Mercedes-Benz’s third edition of the Safe Roads summit – an initiative designed to eliminate traffic accidents globally by 2050.
Mercedes Benz Vision Zero 2050:
This initiative by the German carmaker is aligned with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals, which aims to reduce road fatalities by half by the end of this decade. “To reinforce our commitment to make roads safer globally, we announced our commitment to an accident-free driving vision by 2050,” said Prof. Dr. Paul Dick, head of Mercedes-Benz’s Vehicular Safety department. Our holistic approach combines the use of active and passive safety systems to protect all road users. We are committed to achieving this goal.
It is also very important to Mercedes that road fatalities are reduced in India, where even after maximum efforts have been made to improve vehicle safety and occupant protection, the number of road fatalities is the highest. In a recent statement, Mercedes R&D India managing director and CEO Manu Saale stated, “We aim to eliminate fatal crashes by 2050 by investing in technology and continuous research in safety systems.”.
A Mercedes-Benz presentation at the Safe Roads summit showed that India would suffer more than 1,50,000 fatalities and more than 4,00,000 injuries from road accidents in 2022 alone. Around 5% of India’s highways cause more than 60 percent of fatalities, and roughly 60 percent of them are caused by over speeding. A Mercedes-Benz study found that in 2020 more than 15,000 people died because they did not use seat belts. Mercedes-Benz’s study suggests that many people still fail to use in-car safety features, such as seat belts.
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Mercedes-Benz additionally plans to reduce these figures through its Safe Roads campaign, which includes exhibits, tech days, and media drives. We had several exhibits at the summit with the theme ‘Leading Safety with Sustainability at the Core’ this year.
Mercedes Benz Safe Roads Summit Exhibits:
As part of its Safe Roads campaign, Mercedes-Benz will also exhibit at tech days, conduct media drives and host exhibitions to raise awareness of safe driving. Several exhibits were exhibited during the summit, which was themed ‘Leading Safety with Sustainability at the Core. The shell is made of a variety of materials including aluminium for the body panels, cast aluminium for most of the chassis, high strength steel for the impact zones, and ultra-high strength steel hot-formed around the passenger and battery compartments.
In addition to the alcohol goggles, Mercedes-Benz provided an exhibit simulating the effects of alcohol on balance and reaction times during the walk-the-line activity.
The Vision EQXX electric concept car was also on display at the Safe Roads summit, and Mercedes-Benz Research and Development India (MBRDI) played an important role in its development. According to the company, MBRDDI has an important role to play in Mercedes-Benz’s Vision Zero 2050 and its future plans to go all-electric by 2030.
In addition to completing two 1,000 – kilo-meter journeys on a single charge, Mercedes-Benz’s Vision EQXX – which is the company’s most efficient EV yet – was also shown off at the summit as a non-driving prototype.
