An annual competition among professional truck drivers, the NTDC consists of winners in eight classes of competition from 50 state trucking associations’ truck driving championships.
Bendix demonstrated how the company’s Wingman Advanced collision mitigation technology helps drivers on the road to improve highway safety.
More than 60 drivers and others attending the NTDC participated in the demos, which took place on Orlando public roads in day-long sessions on Aug. 11-12.
“We are pleased that so many drivers participated in the demo. Keeping these elite, respected drivers aware of safety technologies helps improve understanding of their value for all drivers,” says Fred Andersky, Bendix director of government relations.
“According to recent reports from government regulators, the single largest factor impacting truck safety and truck crashes is the behavior of other motorists. Active safety technologies, like Bendix Wingman Advanced and Bendix ESP, help drivers respond to the situations they encounter on the road every day.”
Bendix says Wingman Advanced delivers both warnings and active interventions to help drivers potentially avoid rear-end collisions or, at least, help reduce their severity. The system provides following distance and stationary object alerts, along with active braking interventions, which are always available. When in cruise control, Bendix says the adaptive cruise control with braking feature helps drivers maintain a safe following distance behind a forward vehicle by reducing throttle; engaging the engine retarder; or, if necessary, applying the foundation brakes.
The collision mitigation feature of Bendix Wingman Advanced provides additional interventions, whether or not cruise control is active, by alerting the driver and automatically applying up to two-thirds of the vehicle braking power to help decelerate the vehicle when the system senses a rear-end collision may be imminent, the company says.
According to Bendix, Wingman Advanced builds on the company’s full-stability technology — Bendix ESP electronic stability program — providing fleets and owner-operators with a system that can help drivers in collisions, rollovers, and loss-of-control situations.
