Technology company, Wabco, has announced three major updates in its quest to continue to improve the safety, efficiency and connectivity of commercial vehicles.
Wabco has unveiled a new version of its radar-based collision mitigation system, OnGuardACTIVE, which provides forward collision warning, active braking and adaptive cruise control to assist vehicle operators in recognising and responding to hazardous situations.
The latest version of OnGuardACTIVE reportedly allows for a full stop from up to 37 miles per hour (60km) through active braking after detecting stopped, stationary and moving objects. This system also has improved object detection via enhanced filtering capabilities of the integrated far- and near-range dual-beam radar.
“Wabco was the industry pioneer in active braking technology for commercial vehicles in 2007, and our global engineering organisation has helped ensure that OnGuardACTIVE remains the benchmark for system functionality and performance more than a decade later,” said Jon Morrison, WABCO President, Americas. “Each new generation of this system marks an important step forward in helping fleets dramatically reduce the incidence and expense of rear-end collisions.”
OnGuardACTIVE, according to Wabco, helps reduce rear-end collisions by up to 87 percent (as reported by fleets at Wabco’s Fleet Advisory Council, 2014). When a collision might be imminent, the system alerts the driver through a dedicated warning sequence that begins with a visual alert, then emits a series of audible warnings followed by a haptic brake pulse to quicken the driver’s response. If the driver does not take corrective action, the system automatically reduces engine torque and applies the foundation brakes to prevent or mitigate the rear-end collision.
Wabco has also introduced its Active Lateral Safety technology suite for commercial vehicles, which will be available later this year and features two Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS).
“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 Morrison. “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 Active Lateral Safety suite includes: active steering system featuring a Sheppard hydraulic power steering gear equipped with magnetic torque overlay technology; OnLane Assist, active lane keeping assist system; and OnSideAssist blind spot assist system.
In addition to these technology developments, Wabco is collaborating with SmartDrive Systems to provide safety event video recording through the Wabco OnLane camera system. 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. Fleets will, according to Wabco, 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,” said 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.”