The innovative display and operating concept of the new MAN Truck Generation is awarded Gold in the German Design Award 2021. In the Excellent Product Design category, the consistent, practice-oriented work place for truck drivers convinced the international jury of 38 design experts. After the Red Dot in the Red Dot Design Award, this is now the second major award for the driver’s workplace in the new MAN Truck Generation.
- Gold for the new MAN Truck Generation driver’s workplace in the German Design Award 2021
- Practice-oriented display and operating concept impresses the jury in the Excellent Product Design category
- With the Gold Award, the display and operating concept in the new MAN Truck Generation has won a further renowned design prize
“The Gold Award of the German Design Award is the highest distinction awarded for excellent, comprehensive and innovative design work. As leading trailblazers, ‘Gold’ title holders provide crucial stimulation for entire industries,” according to Lutz Dietzold, Managing Director of the German Design Council. The German Design Award is the international premium prize of the German Design Council and is one of the most recognized design competitions worldwide.
Dr Andreas Tostmann, Chairman of the executive board of MAN Truck & Bus, underlines the special significance of the new award for the truck series launched at the beginning of 2020: “The new MAN Truck generation provides our customers with maximum support in their daily work. Our drivers know best what the perfect workplace must look like. That’s why we listened carefully and designed it according to their ideas. We are all the more pleased that numerous design experts are now honoring the new driver’s workplace. This shows us that we are on the right track!“
Driver’s workplace with excellent driver orientation
In the course of developing the new Truck Generation, MAN involved more than 700 truck drivers in various types of model, driving simulator and test track studies and integrated their experience into designing the new work place.
This is determined by three independently operable systems: firstly, the instrumentation; secondly, the media and navigation system with a display of up to 12.3 inches in size and the innovative MAN SmartSelect control element; and thirdly, the internal remote control for controlling comfort and entertainment functions from the bunk area. Each system has its own truck- specific control logic, which, at the same time, is integrated into the holistic interaction concept.
This enables the driver to intuitively operate the numerous assistance and comfort functions of the new MAN Truck Generation and thus to drive the vehicle safely and efficiently. All the operating elements have been designed so as not to distract the driver’s attention from what is happening on the road. The display and operating levels are separated from each other so that the visual information is as close as possible to the line of sight to the road, whereas the control elements are within reach from a comfortable seated position. The MAN SmartSelect, for example, with its turn and press function, minimises the need to look away from the road when operating the infotainment and navigation menus. Another major benefit of the new driver’s workplace is that every driver is offered the same high level of operating comfort quickly and in a self-explanatory manner, regardless of age, professional experience or technical affinity. With these features, the new MAN Truck Generation makes a lasting contribution to simplifying the increasingly demanding everyday working life of truck drivers.