KIRKLAND, Wash. — The Bendix Wingman Fusion advanced driver-assistance system with an enhanced feature set is now available for order on select new Kenworth heavy- and medium-duty trucks.
Bendix Wingman Fusion is standard for the on-highway flagship Kenworth T680, and is optional on the Kenworth T880 vocational leader and Kenworth T270 and T370 conventional medium-duty models. Kenworth customers will benefit from the new highway-departure braking (HDB) and multi-lane autonomous emergency braking (MLAEB) features available in the latest Bendix Wingman Fusion.
The HDB feature builds upon Bendix Wingman Fusion’s existing lane-departure warning capability. HDB provides auditory and visual alerts to the driver and, if necessary, applies the foundation brakes to reduce vehicle speed, if the system determines the vehicle has left the roadway unintentionally.
MLAEB can help the driver mitigate both the first — and potentially, second — collision situation when more than one highway lane is blocked. Once a collision-mitigation braking event begins and the driver steers into an adjacent lane to avoid the forward vehicle, Bendix Wingman Fusion’s new MLAEB feature continues to apply the brakes, if needed, when it detects another forward vehicle blocking the path in the new traffic lane.
“Bendix Wingman Fusion is popular among fleets and truck operators,” said Laura Bloch, Kenworth’s assistant general manager for sales and marketing. “The system’s addition of highway-departure braking and multi-lane autonomous emergency braking are important technologies that can benefit our customers.”
According to Bendix, the company’s driver-assistance technologies are designed to complement safe drivers, safe driving practices and proactive driver-training programs — not replace them. Responsibility for the safe operation of the vehicle remains with the driver at all times.
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