WABCO has introduced an integrated active lateral safety technology suite to help fleets reduce accidents and increase driver control and comfort. 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 company says.
“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,” says 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, 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 and OnSideASSIST blind spot assist system.
WABCO also unveiled a new version of the OnGuardACTIVE collision mitigation system. OnGuardACTIVE is a radar-based active safety system that provides forward collision warning, active braking and adaptive cruise control to assist drivers in recognizing and responding to situations that could lead to a rear-end collision.
The newest version allows for a full stop from up to 37 miles per hour (60 kph) through active braking after detecting stopped, stationary and moving objects. The OnGuardACTIVE system offers improved object detection via enhanced filtering capabilities of the integrated far- and near-range dual-beam radar. The system detects objects up to 650 feet ahead, allowing the driver to take evasive action, if necessary, the company says.
“Each new generation of this system marks an important step forward in helping fleets dramatically reduce the incidence and expense of rear-end collisions,” Morrison says.
OnGuardACTIVE is available for most vehicle types. All system components are engineered for extended durability and easy maintenance, the company says.
In addition, WABCO announced that it has collaborated with SmartDrive Systems to provide safety event video recording through the WABCO OnLane camera system. SmartDrive is a video-based safety and transportation intelligence system that fleets are adopting to monitor and improve driver performance, reduce the likelihood of collisions and help exonerate not-at-fault drivers, the company says.
SmartDrive video event recording is another capability added to the WABCO OnLane product family, joining existing technologies such as lane departure warning and active lane keeping assist, which are all possible through the application of one camera. This new service offering is exclusive to WABCO and is focused on capturing several safety related events by combining the SmartDrive SR4 video telematics platform with the WABCO OnLaneALERT lane departure warning system, WABCO says. Fleets will be able to add this service without the need to invest in additional cameras.
“This additional functionality completes our vision of a comprehensive active safety suite by combining our proven active steering and ADAS products with video documentation of critical events that affect driver and fleet safety, liability and operating costs,” says Morrison. “Our collaboration with SmartDrive enables us to extend our technology leadership by providing a complete, single-source platform that can help fleets achieve an additional level of safety.”
The use of this feature supports fleets on performance and risk monitoring, training/coaching and to assist in exonerating the driver and fleet of liability following a not-at-fault accident, the company says.
The new SmartDrive system is available for new trucks using OnLaneALERT and as a retrofit option for all trucks in the fleet.
