Bendix XVision

Nighttime driving makes up just 28% of all driving, yet 55% of all accidents occur after dark. It’s a disproportionate statistic Bendix Commercial Vehicle Systems, an operating unit of Honeywell International, wants to change. In December, the company shipped its first XVision unit, an infrared night vision system developed specifically for trucks, buses, and other commercial vehicles.

XVision uses an exterior-mounted, heat-sensing, infrared camera to detect and transmit images to a display inside the cab. The display produces a real-time, black-and-white, thermal image of the road. Warmer objects, such as people or animals, show as bright white, while cooler objects, like bridge abutments, guardrails, or trees, show in darker shades of gray or black. The camera can sense temperature differences as slight as 0.4° F, and since it is not affected by light, the display image is not susceptible to glare from on-coming headlights. Remarkably, the images can help drivers see pedestrians, animals, and objects in front of the vehicle up to 1500 feet away — three to five times farther than a driver can see at night with ordinary headlights.

For truck fleets, the payback of XVision could extend beyond the promise of fewer collisions. Several XVision test-fleets with operations that are restricted to daylight hours — in the oilpatch, for example — have lobbied regulators to lift these limits for trucks equipped with night vision aids.