Fleet Maintenance - 14

Current active safety systems for heavy duty vehicles
Understanding
the technology,
components, and
benefits of active
safety systems.
By Tyler Fussner
There are many active safety systems available today
for commercial vehicles.
Daimler Trucks North America,
a commercial vehicle manufacturer, offers the Detroit Assurance
5.0 suite of safety systems for the
Freightliner Cascadia specified with
a Detroit engine. Detroit Assurance
5.0 delivers Active Brake Assist (ABA)
5.0, Adaptive Cruise Control to 0
mph, and Active Lane Assist. ABA
5.0 is an 'always on' system, as it
continuously detects the distances
to objects in the vehicle's path,
calculates speed, and determines
if a warning to the driver or braking
action is necessary, says Brian
Daniels, manager, Detroit powertrain
and component product marketing,
Daimler Trucks North America.
ABA 5.0 utilizes a camera and a
radar to perceive information. "The
camera and radar signals are fused
together for greater object recognition, which allows for enhanced
braking capabilities," Daniels says.
ABA 5.0 features full braking on
both stationary and moving objects,
including pedestrians. When the
radar and camera systems detect
a pedestrian crossing into the
vehicle's path, the system provides
an audible and visual warning to
the driver while the system simultaneously initiates partial braking.
This is followed by full braking if the
driver fails to react accordingly.
Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC) to
0 mph automatically adjusts the
vehicle's cruising speed in order to
maintain a safe following distance
from vehicles in its path. The default
following distance is measured
to 3.6 seconds on the Cascadia
but can be adjusted between 2.4
and 3.6 seconds; the adjustments
can be made in-cab through an
interactive dash display. ACC is also
functional in stop-and-go traffic.
"If the vehicle in front comes to a
stop, the Cascadia will also come
to a full stop - 0 mph - and hold
indefinitely. If the vehicle in front
starts to move ... then the Cascadia
will resume moving automatically at

14 Fleet Maintenance | December 2019

a safe following distance," Daniels
says. However, if the complete
stop of the truck is longer than two
seconds, the driver must either
push the throttle or press 'set/
resume' to continue using ACC.
Active Lane Assist is a branch of
Detroit Assurance 5.0 encompassing
Lane Departure Protection, Lane
Departure Warning, Lane Keep
Assist, and Side Guard Assist. Lane
Departure Protection enacts as
the vehicle exceeds 37 mph; the
camera system detects lane markers and if the truck crosses those
markers without an activated turn
signal, a Lane Departure Warning
is issued. The audible warning is
delivered through the speaker on
the corresponding side of the vehicle that crosses the lane marker,
along with a visual warning on the
instrument panel. If the driver does
not correct the vehicle, the safety
system will automatically correct the
vehicle back into the proper lane.
When ACC is enabled, Lane Keep
Assist uses "micro-steering movements" to keep the Cascadia centered within its detected lane. Side
Guard Assist detects objects in the
truck's blind spots and warns drivers
to avoid a lane change or a turn that
would cause the vehicle to come into
contact with the detected objects.
Volvo Trucks North America,
manufacturer of on-highway and
vocational Class 8 vehicles, offers
the Volvo Active Driver Assist (VADA)
2.0, a comprehensive collision mitigation system which uses a camera
and radar sensors to detect objects
within the vehicle's proximity.
"The technology enables a series
of features to help drivers maintain
a safe following distance through
alerts and improved traffic awareness, as well as emergency braking,
to reduce the risk of collisions,"
says Ash Makki, product marketing
manager, connectivity for Volvo.
VADA 2.0 combines both radar
and camera capabilities to detect
objects in the vehicle's proximity,
as the radar sensor in the front
bumper monitors objects moving
in the same direction as the truck,
while the camera's 42-degree viewing angle works like an extra set of
eyes for the drivers, Makki says.
Bendix Commercial Vehicle
Systems, a developer and supplier
of energy management solutions, air
brake charging, control systems, and
components for medium and heavy
duty vehicles, offers a range of active
safety systems. The foundational
technology of these systems is built

from the Bendix Electronic Stability
Program (ESP). ESP uses sensors that
measure yaw, lateral acceleration,
and driver intent to mitigate rollovers
and loss of control situations.
Bendix launched the Bendix
Wingman ACB - Active Cruise with
Braking - in March 2009. Wingman
ACB utilizes a forward-facing radar
to deliver following distance alerts,
impact alerts, and stationary object
alerts. It is also able to provide
throttle reduction and brake application when the vehicle's cruise
control is set. Bendix Wingman
Advanced was introduced in 2011.
"[Bendix Wingman Advanced]
spurred an increase in adoption,
because in addition to the Wingman
ACB capabilities, it offers brake
application to potentially prevent
or lessen the severity of collisions
with a forward-moving vehicle,
whether or not cruise control is
activated," says TJ Thomas, director
of marketing and customer solutions - control group for Bendix.
The Bendix Wingman Fusion,
launched in 2015, furthered the
Wingman suite of features.
"Bendix took something good
and made it better, adding a forward-facing camera, deeper system
integration, and new features
including Lane Departure Warning,
overspeed alerts, and intervention,"
Thomas says. "One of the crucial
keys as the system became more
complex - alert prioritization."
Wingman Fusion uses sensors working together, gathering input data
from radar, video, and the vehicle's
braking system to combine and
cross-check information in order
to create a detailed and accurate
data picture the system can use
to initiate procedures. Wingman
Fusion has seen upgrades to its
system and in turn has delivered
more offerings: rear-end collision
mitigation, stationary vehicle
braking, multi-lane automatic emergency braking, highway departure
braking, and ACB Auto-Resume.
The AutoVue Lane Departure
Warning system by Bendix is integrated in Wingman Fusion but is also
available as a standalone technology.
AutoVue uses a front-facing camera
to detect if the vehicle is drifting
across a lane marking without a
turn signal having been activated.
AutoVue emits a "rumble strip"
effect, alerting the driver to make a
correction. The Bendix BlindSpotter
Side Object Detection System is
another alert system from Bendix;
it uses side-mounted radar units,

mounted on the passenger and/
or driver side of the vehicle, to alert
drivers of objects in adjacent lanes.
Wabco, provider of electronic
braking, stability, suspension, and
transmission automation systems
for heavy duty commercial vehicles,
offers various active safety systems.
OnGuardACTIVE is a radar-only
advanced emergency braking system that helps to prevent rear-end
collisions. OnLaneALERT utilizes a
forward-facing camera mounted
in the windshield to monitor the
vehicle's position within the lane.
The system issues visual, audible, or
haptic signals to the driver if the vehicle veers out of the lane without the
indication of a turn signal. TailGUARD
is a rear blind spot detection system
with active braking; the system is
designed to support drivers during
reversing maneuvers. TailGUARD
relies on up to six ultrasonic sensors to decipher its environment.
Pronto, developer of safety systems and software, offers Copilot,
a bolt-on highway safety system for
commercial trucks. Copilot delivers
full adaptive cruise control, automatic emergency braking, Artificial
Intelligence (AI)-powered collision
mitigation, and continuous lane
centering. The Copilot system consists of a forward-facing camera, a
forward-facing radar, and an onboard
computer with Pronto software.
"At its core, all you need on the sensor side of things are a single camera
and a single radar," says Ognen
Stojanovski, COO and co-founder
of Pronto. "You don't need a lot of
sensors if you have good software."
Input from the sensors is relayed
to a single graphics processing unit
(GPU) where Pronto's software
processes the information. The
software commands are sent to
electronics throughout the vehicle's
various systems in order to apply
the brakes, steering, or throttle.
The bolt-on nature of the Copilot
system delivers a sense of familiarity to technicians as the same
valves, hoses, etc., are "plumbed
into the existing air supply systems,"
Stojanovsjki says. The maintenance
on those aspects would remain the
same as they would with normal vehicle operation. Another major benefit
of this retrofit installation method
is that the vehicle can still operate
entirely without the Copilot system.
OE specifications are not tampered
with or changed, and from a safety
perspective, a failure of the Copilot
system would never affect the underlying operation of the truck itself.

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