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Mr. Çakmaz studied mechanical engineering at the
Ulm University of Applied Sciences, before joining
Daimler in 1985 to work on passenger car development.
In 2000 he joined Daimler Trucks, before gaining
experience in further roles in Turkey, Japan and India,
where he worked as Head of Product Engineering
for Daimler India Commercial Vehicles (DCIV).
From 2013 onwards he oversaw increased collaboration
across Asia, including for example DICV and Mitsubishi
Fuso Truck and Bus Corporation, with a special focus
on the electrification of the Fuso product range.
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Automation, at the same time, is a
major issue to further enhance safety
of commercial vehicles, but also to
counter the lack of drivers and to
reduce operating cost.
focus: These projects illustrate how
important a spirit of collaboration
is as vehicle systems become more
complex. How essential are such
partnerships in tackling the growing
challenges faced by the global
automotive industry?
Çakmaz: The ability to successfully
build cooperations, be it for components,
entire vehicles or nowadays
also software and services, is crucial
for our success. For example,
just recently, Daimler Truck AG announced
a cooperation with Volvo
to develop and build Fuel Cells to
be used by both companies in their
vehicles.
But we are also in cooperation with
different partners locally. A close
cooperation with our suppliers, not
so much by setting up joint ventures
but on an R&D and manufacturing
level, also has a long tradition and
was key to successful product projects
in the past.
focus: The eCanter SensorCollect
has demonstrated that Fuso is a
leader in innovative solutions to
challenging problems. What’s next
for Fuso?
Çakmaz: The eCanter Sensor Collect
offers sophisticated automated functions
that enable it to automatically
follow an operator through a street
to collect rubbish – unmanned.
I cannot tell you what we are working
on right now, but as you know,
battery and fuel cell electric vehicles
are one of our core competencies.
So please, allow me and my colleagues
to keep this a secret – but
there will definitely be, more very
innovative zero-emission projects
to come from Mitsubishi Fuso as
well as Bharat Benz.
Aydoğan Çakmaz
Head of Operations, Truck
and Bus, Mitsubishi Fuso
Truck and Bus
Corporation
The eCanter SensorCollect
Concept Garbage Collection
truck showed how ADAS could
have practical applications
in the real world.