MAN Truck & Bus Middle East together with its exclusive distributor in the UAE, Darwish Bin Ahmed & Sons, conducted a unique ProfiDrive demo event for invitees today launching its new off-road training, which has been developed to increase operational efficiency and safety. MANs ProfiDrive training is a specialized training programme designed to raise the level of knowledge so that drivers can adopt the best driving practices. MAN has been offering the service to its customers in the Middle East for on road operation since 2009 and with the new off-road training, MAN now covers all aspects of truck operation in the region. The event also saw MAN demonstrate a unique truck driving simulator so that invitees could witness the benefits of basic and advanced training of truck drivers to evaluate driving skills in a completely virtual environment.

According to Rudolf Wiegand, Vice President, After Sales, MAN Middle East and Africa, This latest initiative reflects MANs commitment to enhancing driver efficiency across customer fleets in the Middle East by introducing innovative training solutions. The use of advanced simulators to support ongoing training is very helpful in training drivers to drive with foresight, remain calm and confident in critical situations, and stay in control of the vehicle. We place a huge emphasis on driver training as part of our ProfiDrive Training Packages which are designed to enhance a driver's practical capabilities in addition to fundamental driving techniques so that they can maintain their vehicles better and contribute to increased fuel efficiency which translates to tangible cost savings for our customers.

Dr. Richard Brown, MAN Product Expert and Training Manager said, We have now introduced the off-road module to our ProfiDrive Training as a further enhancement of our training portfolio to support drivers on more difficult terrain. As part of this training, we teach them how to get optimum traction, operate on different surfaces and to keep their vehicles under control using the latest MAN safety features such as hill-hold brake for manual gearboxes and MAN EasyStart for TipMatic gearboxes.

The simulator has onscreen projection directly onto the window of the driver's cab and is trend setting. The person is completely immersed in the simulation environment and the virtual reality of the exercise. The simulator can simulate various vehicles with different combinations (such as different types of trailers or semi-trailers, vehicle load), special situations (such as side wind, brake failure, tire blow-outs), training in different environments (mountain roads, urban areas, highways) as well as a manoeuvring course.

The level of economy achieved by a vehicle in operation is considerably influenced by its driver. Based on observation over the years, we have seen that damages to clutch or brakes are generally caused by wrong operation. With a trained driver, such repair costs can be eliminated. X.A. Darwin, Head of After Sales at Darwish Bin Ahmed said. MAN estimates have shown that ProfiDrive training can lead to a 5 % increase in fuel savings just by teaching the driver how to operate the vehicle correctly.

Advanced simulators play an important role in supporting the ProfiDrive training programme. The Truck driving simulator consists of an original MAN truck drivers cab with all functional operating and display elements (speedometer, tachometer, turn signal, automatic and manual transmission, pedals, multifunction steering wheel including cruise control, switches for driver assistance systems), Simulation of return forces on steering wheel and pedals in addition to an Instructor Operation Station (IOS).

The simulator allows the instructor to quickly generate scenarios and thus, to optimally customize training for the driver. Using drag-n-drop, a scenario can be newly created by simple clicking or an old scenario can be easily called up again and changed in real-time while driving.

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