ZF aims to bring trucks into the era of 360° safety
Just a few weeks before the opening of IAA Transportation 2026 in Hanover, ZF is unveiling a new generation of technologies designed for heavy-duty vehicles and their trailers. The German supplier is no longer talking only about driver assistance, but about a genuine safety ecosystem capable of actively intervening to prevent accidents while preparing the ground for increasingly advanced automation.
One of the main new developments lies in a concept called “360° Safety”, which now considers the truck and its trailer as one and the same intelligent vehicle. Until now, assistance systems have mainly focused on the tractor unit. Thanks to a high-speed digital connection between the truck and the trailer, information from the radars and cameras of both vehicles can now be merged to create a complete view of the surroundings.
The objective is simple: to eliminate the blind spots that still exist today around articulated vehicle combinations. This global perception should make it possible to improve the detection of vulnerable road users, obstacles or vehicles in all situations, whether on motorways, in urban areas or during manoeuvres at logistics platforms.
Systems capable of acting, not just warning
ZF is also taking a further step with its OnGuardMAX system. Beyond traditional audible or visual warnings, certain functions can now intervene directly on the braking system to avoid or mitigate a collision.
The system obviously meets the European requirements of the General Safety Regulation (GSR) concerning blind-spot detection and assistance when starting off in the presence of vulnerable road users. But the supplier goes further by offering automatic braking when a collision becomes imminent.
On the road, assistance functions are also evolving with a Highway Assist combining active lane keeping, adaptive cruise control and management of stops and restarts in traffic jams. In logistics centres, assistance with reversing manoeuvres also benefits from automatic brake intervention in the event of danger, while cameras installed on the trailer considerably improve visibility during loading-dock operations.
Continuous monitoring of the driver
Safety also involves the driver. ZF integrates a monitoring system capable of detecting signs of fatigue or distraction and, if necessary, intervening to reduce risks.
Another interesting innovation is an emergency-vehicle siren recognition system. Even when they are not yet visible in the mirrors or cameras, the system can alert the driver to facilitate the passage of emergency services.
Preparing today for tomorrow’s autonomous trucks
Beyond the new safety functions, ZF is above all presenting an evolvable electronic architecture. The new radars and cameras have been designed to progressively accommodate new functions without requiring manufacturers to completely redesign their vehicles.
This modular approach should allow manufacturers to evolve their models in line with regulations, hauliers’ expectations and future levels of automation. The objective is also to anticipate the next safety assessment criteria, particularly those of Euro NCAP, which are becoming increasingly demanding for commercial vehicles.
With this strategy, ZF confirms its desire to no longer consider braking, steering or driver assistance systems as independent systems, but as a perfectly coordinated whole. A vision that foreshadows the highly automated heavy-duty vehicles of the future, which visitors will be able to discover at IAA Transportation 2026, where ZF will be exhibiting all of its innovations at its stand in Hall 21.
