MTB icon Matt Jones on his mind-bending world-first jump between two autonomous trucks
Red Bull slopestyle star Matt Jones has never been short of imagination, but his latest project pushes the boundaries of mountain biking – and technology – to a whole new level.
In a world-first stunt, filmed at Scania’s testing facility in Sweden, Jones successfully jumped his bike between two 40-tonne autonomous trucks moving in opposite directions, with less than one second of margin for error. The trucks – controlled entirely through sensors, cameras and data systems – created a brief and perfect window for Jones to thread the needle mid-flight.
As the video rolls out, Men’s Fitness caught up with Matt to talk about where the idea came from, what the pressure felt like, how you psych yourself up to trust technology with your life, and what comes next.
Men’s Fitness: So… where on earth did the idea for this come from?
Matt Jones: I’ve always been fascinated by movement – cars, trucks, streetlights lining up as you drive. One day I saw two trucks crossing and one had an open-sided trailer with a digger on it. I remember thinking, you could jump through that on a motorbike… or even a push bike.
The idea stuck. It felt relatable – everyone understands that “guillotine” moment of two massive objects closing in. I spoke to Red Bull and said, “If you think this is possible, I think we should try and make it happen.” And once the idea was real, it just grew from there.
MF: The stunt looks incredibly technical – autonomous trucks, a towing vehicle to launch you, high-speed camera systems… But at the heart of it, there’s you hanging on to a tiny tow handle. It’s almost hilariously low-tech in comparison.
MJ: Yeah, the irony of that wasn’t lost on me! Everything around me was incredibly advanced – the trucks were automated to within fractions of a second – and yet I’m holding a wakeboard handle being towed by a guy in a normal car.
There was still a human element feeding into this algorithm of data. Every run I had to just believe: this is the one. When we got that green window and the computers predicted it was perfectly timed, I trusted it by the end. But yeah, there were moments early on where I thought, Do these engineers really understand the stakes here?
MF: In the edit, we see the tension build as daylight disappears and the attempt has to be postponed. That must have been brutal mentally. Did you sleep that night?
MJ: Not really! I genuinely thought we’d get it done that day. I’d even planned in my head that we’d go and celebrate that evening. We got so close – I was within two-hundredths of a second of a green light, but from where I was standing all I see is red or green. I don’t know if it’s miles off or tiny margins. And I had to be disciplined: don’t go on a red. Because when the window is green, that’s it. You have to go. You might not get another chance for hours, because everything has to align – truck velocity, wind speed, tow speed, angle, everything. It’s all happening in a fraction of a second.
MF: Watching it, one of the big takeaways is how precise this technology has now become. Do you think this stunt is proof we’re closer than ever to trusting autonomous vehicles in everyday life?
MJ: I had to have 100% faith – and I didn’t at first. Honestly, I thought, “Why don’t we just put two drivers in trucks and talk to them over the radio?” That felt more normal to me.
I actually asked Scania to do a couple of passes with human drivers so we could try timing it. And they just couldn’t do it. They tried – but the crossover was never accurate enough. Two humans driving two massive trucks from different angles trying to hit the exact same millisecond… it’s basically impossible.
That’s when it became clear that autonomy wasn’t just a cool gimmick – it was the only way this could happen. And what’s cool is that the engineers learned loads from this too. This whole challenge has apparently fed into their development going forward.
MF: Talk us through the moment of the jump itself. What did it feel like when you left the ramp?
Matt Jones: I tried to turn my brain off and become autonomous myself. I had full faith in the maths. As I accelerated up the ramp the trucks had already crossed, so for a moment I couldn’t see the space I was aiming for. Then halfway up the ramp the gap appeared and suddenly I just got hit with this surge of adrenaline.
It was unlike anything I’ve experienced – pure clarity and fear and excitement all at once. And when I landed, the wave of emotions was huge: relief, pride, and massive gratitude to everyone involved. It took Red Bull months of planning and Scania’s engineers countless simulations to make that half-second possible.
MF: You’ve jumped houses, pulled off some of the most creative edits ever filmed on a mountain bike… What’s next? How do you top this?
MJ: I honestly don’t know. This one took a long time from idea to reality and the risk was massive. For now, I’m actually excited to get back into the woods and ride the kind of terrain I grew up with – away from moving traffic! But I know how my brain works: sooner or later I’ll be driving down a road or walking through an airport and something will spark an idea. That’s just how it always happens.
See for yourself at https://www.instagram.com/redbulluk/ and follow Matt Jones next challenge https://www.instagram.com/mattjonesmtb/
