To onlookers, the VW Passat was reversing a trailer at full speed through the city of Lillestrom in Norway.
And there were onlookers. It was a freaky sight. The stunt was to demonstrate how easy it is to reverse a trailer using VW Trailer Assistant.
With Trailer Assistant, the car will automatically reverse the trailer for you. The only thing you need to do is select reverse, press the Park Assist button and use the mirror adjustment button to enter the direction you want the trailer to follow. You are still responsible for gear shifting, acceleration and breaking if needed. But you don’t have to remember to steer the wheel in the opposite direction than what comes naturally for a driver.
It’s not quite as easy as in the stunt. But the stunt makes VW’s point.
The trailer in the stunt is actually a converted car with its own 1.4 litre engine, which pulls the car in the video and not vice versa. The trailer is equipped with transparent foil so that the driver sitting in the trailer might look out, but people cannot see inside.
The trailer driver is Swedish rally driver, Björn Persson. “This is the strangest thing I have ever driven, and I have driven a lot of weird vehicles. We got a lot of curious stares during the rides,” Persson commented.
The more difficult job, however, was given to the driver of the VW Passat that was being pulled by the trailer. That driver was Lasse Malmjarn, another stunt driver, who was sitting with his back towards the driving direction and had to correct the effects on the turns.
The stunt video was shot in Lillestrom, outside of Oslo. And yes, it was was executed in collaboration with the local police.
Behind the scenes video here:
