Mercedes-Benz Trucks and Daimler Buses are backing a new national road-safety initiative in Germany, as the shift to electric heavy vehicles changes how trucks and buses behave on the road - and how other people experience them.
The programme, called Deutschland blickt’s (“Germany gets it”), launches in 2026 and focuses on making children and families more aware of the quieter, quicker characteristics of electric vehicles in cities. It is led by the child-safety charity Blicki e.V., which has already taught more than 90,000 pupils about blind spots and street awareness.
The announcement was made in Berlin alongside the Federal Ministry of Transport, with Transport Minister Patrick Schnieder and VDA President Hildegard Müller attending.
What’s changing
Electrification is now spreading from cars into heavy trucks and city buses. That brings a different set of safety challenges:
- Electric trucks pull away faster than diesel vehicles.
- Their low-speed silence makes them harder for pedestrians and cyclists to detect.
- Emergency services must deal with high-voltage systems.
- City streets will soon see larger numbers of electric heavy vehicles as operators switch over.
At the same time, road aggression in Germany has risen sharply. An ADAC survey cited in the initiative reports that two-thirds of drivers believe behaviour on the road is getting worse.
Last year, 27,260 children under 15 were injured or killed in road traffic. In accidents involving commercial vehicles over 3.5 tonnes, 90% of fatalities were people outside the truck.
That is the context for the programme - and why Daimler Truck has decided to put its name and hardware behind it.
New ‘Safety Truck’ makes its first public appearance
To support the initiative, Mercedes-Benz Trucks has built a new demonstration vehicle known as the Mercedes-Benz Safety Truck - based on the long-haul, battery-electric eActros 600, which entered series production at the end of 2024.
The Safety Truck will be used at training events to show how modern assistance systems work, including:
- turning assist
- automatic emergency braking
- collision warning
- traffic-sign recognition
- attention-monitoring
- the MirrorCam camera-based mirror system
An externally mounted Acoustic Vehicle Alerting System (AVAS), now mandatory on electric heavy vehicles, will also be demonstrated to explain why electric trucks now emit artificial sound at low speeds.
Mercedes-Benz says this reflects a broader shift: as more electric HGVs appear in cities, the surrounding road culture must adapt.
Electric buses face similar challenges
Daimler Buses is also taking part with its Safety Coach, which highlights active and passive safety systems fitted to long-distance coaches.
Electric city buses have been in series production since 2018 under the Mercedes-Benz eCitaro line, including the hydrogen-assisted eCitaro fuel cell introduced in 2023. The next steps are:
- 2026: eIntouro electric intercity bus
- Late decade: battery-electric coaches
- Later: hydrogen fuel-cell coaches, following trials with the “H2 Coach” prototype
The company will also offer dedicated e-bus services, including battery reconditioning and new public charging points for tourist destinations.
Behind the hardware: the accident numbers
The safety initiative is firmly grounded in official data:
- A child is injured or killed in Germany every 19 minutes in road traffic.
- Traffic accidents claimed 2,770 lives last year - eight per day.
- In commercial-vehicle crashes over 3.5 tonnes:
- car occupants accounted for ~50% of fatalities
- pedestrians ~15%
- cyclists ~6%
- In bus accidents:
- car occupants ~34%
- pedestrians ~29%
- bus occupants ~20%
Put simply: when large vehicles are involved, the consequences for people outside them are often severe.
A multi-year programme across five federal states
Deutschland blickt’s will begin in Saxony, Bavaria, Hesse, Berlin and Hamburg before expanding nationwide. Daimler Truck will provide:
- vehicles for demonstrations
- dealership and service sites for events
- support for driver-training sessions
The focus is on early education, especially primary-school children, with sessions on blind spots, low-noise EV behaviour, and understanding how trucks and buses move in urban environments.
Broader electrification context
Mercedes-Benz Trucks’ long-haul push continues through the eActros 600, which:
- carries 621 kWh of battery capacity
- delivers up to 500 km of tested range
- has already run 15,000 km across 22 countries in development trials
- won International Truck of the Year 2025
The electric product line will expand again at the end of 2025 with the eActros 400 and new application-specific variants.
Alongside batteries, Mercedes-Benz Trucks continues to develop hydrogen for longer-distance work. Five GenH2 Truck prototypes have completed 225,000 km of real-world haulage trials, with a 100-unit customer pilot to follow in 2026.
The takeaway
Heavy electric vehicles bring clear air-quality benefits - but also new behavioural gaps for other road users. With more electric lorries and buses entering service every year, manufacturers and policymakers are trying to ensure the safety framework keeps pace with the technology.
Deutschland blickt’s is one attempt to close that gap early, starting with the people most at risk.
