Trending News Monday: The Invisible Truck

With its official start this past Sunday, Summer continues to roll along, and with the warm vacation months come plenty of families packing up their cars and trucks and hitting the open highway, hopefully with a good playlist. And now those road trips are looking like a safer venture, thanks to a new initiative by Samsung, announced over the weekend. For this week’s trending news, we look at the exciting way Samsung plans to use its TVs in the future.

We’ve all had to deal with those pesky two-lane, two-way highways, with a lane for the coming and a lane for the going! I know that I’m not the only one who gets a mixture of scared and impatient behind a rambling semi-truck. Like plenty of drivers out there, when the opportunity arises, you can rest assured I’ll take that chance to pass.

Fortunately for those of us on the roads, Samsung has given us a way to see past those hulking trailers. Not by looking around, mind you, but by looking through. The company has decided to shift its gears from smartphones and tablets to highway safety in order to reduce the number of car crashes that occur when drivers pass semi-trucks. By attaching a camera to the front of their Samsung semi-trucks and displaying the image on a collection of four Samsung monitors at the rear of the truck, the tech company has provided drivers with the ability to see what’s coming toward them from the opposite lane. Samsung is doing this in hopes that they can help an passing driver make a more informed and safe decision before darting around an 18-wheeler.

Of course, these life-saving devices are all Samsung gadgets, so in its pursuit of safer highways and the good publicity that comes with such a noble endeavor, Samsung gets the added brand awareness simply by using its own tech. Even if these safety trucks aren’t permanent it persuades the consumer to buy a Samsung TV, phone, or tablet. A consumer will always remember the characteristics of the “Samsung Safety Truck” which acted as a second pair of eyes for them on the road.

While some may argue these Samsung Safety Trucks will help highway drivers, one hopes that the screens on the back of the truck don’t become too much of a distraction.

Only in the sketchbook stages, we’ll have to wait and see if the “Samsung Safety Truck” ever hits the road, and ultimately, how it pans out.

Cover Photo courtesy of Andrey Tirakhov, via Shutterstock.

Megan Robinson is a Junior Executive at SJG. A born and bred Chicagoan, which serves her foodie personality well, and a self-professed fashionista. She is currently pursuing her Advertising and PR degree at Southern Illinois University.