With so many of its high-performance vehicles effortlessly swallowing up mile after mile of autobahn, the notion of a new Mercedes-Benz slashing commutes may seem like business as usual. But it’s the practical thinkers in the commercial-van division, not the power-crazed tinkerers at AMG, who are at play here. And they’re out to cut the time their vehicles spend on the road by making them smarter, not faster. One innovation that Mercedes-Benz is developing for the next-generation model of the Sprinter (interior, above) takes the idea of in-vehicle delivery and ratchets it up for the trades.
Automakers such as Audi and Volvo have been experimenting with in-car package delivery for a couple of years now. The idea is that goods you order online are delivered right into the trunk of your parked car. What’s a convenience for consumers, though, could become a valuable time saver for skilled laborers, as Mercedes pivots beyond manufacturing vehicles and toward providing comprehensive mobility solutions.
Picture yourself as a trades worker or service technician wheeling a Sprinter on the job. You get up in the morning, drive to the office, receive your marching orders, and pick up the supplies you’ll need for the first job of the day. You then drive to the job site to carry out your work, return to the office to drop off parts and equipment that need to be sent out for service, and load up again for the next job.
That’s a lot of time spent shuttling back and forth—time that could be better spent on the work site. Picture instead, as Mercedes does, your work van parked in front of your home overnight. A courier locates the vehicle via GPS, opens the cargo bay with a single-use, smartphone-based digital key, and drops off the parts and tools you’ll need the next day.
Come morning, you can drive directly to the job site and get right to work without having to stop in between. The manager back at the office can send updated work orders straight to the vehicle’s dashboard screen. Once parked for the night, you notify the courier to pick up any extra equipment or parts to send back for repair and to leave your supplies for the next day’s work.
That time-is-money model is the not so distant future Mercedes has planned for operators of the new Sprinter. Watch for more as we near the introduction date for the van, scheduled for early 2018.
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