ATLANTA — WABCO Holdings Inc., a global supplier of braking control systems and other advanced technologies designed to improve the safety, efficiency and connectivity of commercial vehicles, Monday introduced an integrated Active Lateral Safety technology suite to help fleets reduce accidents and increase driver control and comfort in a full range of operating environments.
The new suite, which will be available later this year, integrates the company’s active steering technology with two Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) to establish a comprehensive cocoon of safety around the vehicle.
The announcement came during the American Trucking Associations Technology and Maintenance Council meeting here.
“By combining these technologies into an integrated safety package, we have extended the benefits of active steering to two of the most common critical events leading to accidents — drifting out of the desired travel lane and failing to detect a vehicle in the driver’s blind spot,” said Jon Morrison, WABCO President, Americas. “We are pioneering the creation of Active Lateral Safety as we did with forward safety when we introduced our OnGuard ADAS system. Together, these solutions enhance vehicle intelligence and protection to support the overall success and safety of on-highway fleets.”
The new Active Lateral Safety suite consists of three proven, integrated safety solutions from WABCO:
- Active steering system featuring a Sheppard hydraulic power steering gear equipped with magnetic torque overlay technology
- OnLaneASSIST active lane keeping assist system
- OnSideASSIST blind spot assist system
Morrison said WABCO’s active steering technology utilizes a magnetic torque overlay to enable several new, smart features that help maximize safety, increase uptime and improve driver comfort and acceptance:
- Road crown compensation
- Wheel imbalance rejection
- Return-to-center
- Adjustable steering feel
- Side wind compensation
- Active steering damping
- Speed-dependent steering effort
WABCO OnLaneASSIST combines active steering with a forward-looking camera for active lane correction. Rather than simply warning of vehicle drift, the system applies assistive torque to the steering wheel, when necessary, to help the driver stay in the lane. Once the vehicle is again targeting the lane center, the overlay torque is released. Drivers can override the assistive steering input at any time.
Fleets also can choose to add optional video capture to the OnLaneASSIST system for increased insight to driving performance. This capability is available through the OnLane camera and affiliated SmartDrive program.
WABCO OnSideASSIST provides a 160-degree range of lateral radar coverage as well as rearward reach of up to 33 feet to help drivers avoid collisions both in overtaking and lane change maneuvers, regardless of visibility conditions. It has been estimated that blind spot detection systems can prevent or mitigate up to 50 percent of driver vision-related crashes. As an added safety feature, OnSideASSIST is designed to detect the presence of another vehicle in an adjacent lane and provide a bit of resistance to the steering wheel to alert the driver when changing lanes.
“WABCO is dedicated to helping fleets improve safety, uptime, on-time performance and driver retention through the mobilization of advanced vehicle intelligence. This exclusive new suite of technologies is engineered to meet the current requirements of today’s on-highway vehicles while also serving as a bridge to the autonomous, connected and electric vehicles of the future,” Morrison said.
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