View of the Future

An ad for a luxury sedan boasts of “pioneering” adaptive cruise control. It’s the only car to have it, the announcer says. Big deal. For more than a year, adaptive cruise has been available on pretty much any commercial truck you’d like to buy. Rollover warning devices and electronic braking systems are other areas where trucks lead the way.

Development and testing of onboard safety systems have been spurred on by the U.S. Dept. of Transportation’s Intelligent Vehicle Initiative, a $13-million US study involving four major truck makers, several state and federal government agencies, a hand-picked group of test fleets, and a lengthy roster of component suppliers. The main tenet of the project is to help manufacturers engineer systems that 1) are effective on the road, and 2) will appease safety regulators, who want to reduce accidents, and equipment buyers, who want performance and value.

Here’s a run-down of a few systems still under development or available now.

> Collision warning and adaptive cruise control: Eaton Vorad’s EVT-300 radar-based collision avoidance system is an established product. With its SmartCruise function, the EVT-300 can measure the distance between you and the vehicle ahead and, in cruise control mode, maintain a safe following distance by controlling the throttle (and even downshifting if you’ve got the right automated transmission).

While cruising east of Toronto on Hwy. 401 in afternoon traffic, I asked a passing driver if I could sneak up on his back door in order to test the system. He pulled in front of my truck and eased up. Sure enough, SmartCruise fired the engine brake when my closing distance hit 2.5 seconds. The collision-warning system shot off an audible warning as the gap closed to two seconds, while ratcheting up the Jake to give me more whoa power. At 1.5 seconds, a more urgent tone sounded, and at one second-uncomfortably close-SmartCruise applied full engine braking to give me even more breathing room. Since I was only creeping up on the other guy, the system backed me out slowly. When a four-wheeler cut in front of the truck and hit his brakes, the system recognized the problem quickly, backing us right out with the engine brake and and a downshift.

With SmartCruise, the EVT-300 will automatically maintain whatever gap you set, which means you can stay in cruise control longer than you normally would, even when another vehicle cuts into their lane. When the way is clear again, it will take the truck back to the previously set cruise speed, with no driver input at all.

> Electronic brakes: With an electronic braking system (EBS), the signal that starts the braking process is delivered not by air but by electronics (the brake pedal becomes a switch, like the throttle with your electronic engine). The signal quickly reaches all wheel positions at the same time, creating balance and stability not possible with air brakes, especially when your rearmost axle is dozens of feet away.

EBS can also brake wheels independently according to their need, which helps reduce stopping distances. Freightliner LLC showed as much when an EBS/disc brake combo stopped a tractor-trailer in 200 feet from 100 km/h-half the distance mandated by the U.S. government. EBS also can automatically adjust the vehicle brakes according to the load, and compensate for brake fade.

You can order EBS now-a Meritor WABCO system-on certain Freightliner models, but you’ll need a redundant air system to be legal.

> Active suspension. DaimlerChrysler calls its system “Active Body Control” (ABC), and I experienced it first-hand on a transit bus at a German test track a few years ago. Hydraulic cylinders with shock-absorber modules sit between the axles and the body. They’re the “passive” basic suspension, replacing conventional shock absorbers and air springs. Meanwhile, sensors measuring pressure, acceleration, and displacement constantly gather information about the wheels and body. When, for example, the bus enters a curve, a microprocessor monitors the sensors to calculate how much pressure to apply at each individual wheel cylinder to compensate for effects of the centrifugal forces on the vehicle. Oil is pumped into that cylinder; at the same time, the pressure is reduced in the opposite cylinder. It works so quickly that your coffee doesn’t slosh when the coach is in a hairpin turn or pounding through ankle-deep ruts in the road. And once the bus is parked, each wheel can be raised separately to change a tire or mount chains.

> Anti-rollover warnings: Freightliner made its Roll Advisor and Control (RAC) system standard on its Century S/T tractor and optional on other air-braked Freightliner models. The system warns of an impending rollover and, if the three-stage warnings are ignored and the wheels lose contact with the pavement, it will de-activate the throttle and apply the engine retarder. (Perhaps one day, active suspension will also jack up one side or one corner of the rig to prevent a roll.)

Currently, RAC uses capacity in the anti-lock braking system’s electronic control unit, with additional software and accelerometers to measure lateral forces. As the system detects high cornering forces, the first in-dash warning message reads: “Risky Manoeuvre Detected.” If cornering forces rise, the next alert reads “Rollover Risk Detected,” alternating with a second message: “3 mph slower recommended.” Further increase in cornering forces brings “High Risk of Rollover Detected” alternating with advice to slow down 7 mph. If the ABS sensors detect differing wheel speeds, together with the information from the accelerometers the system will command the engine to reduce fuel and then apply the engine brake, slowing the vehicle.

> Vision systems: You can buy closed-circuit cameras to monitor blind spots, but Eaton VORAD is working on an option for the EVT-300 that integrates video and radar data in an in-cab display. I drove a truck with two cameras mounted on the right-front fender of the tractor, one looking at the area in front of the right front wheel and the other looking back toward the passenger door.

Another, sitting on the left front fender, focused on the area directly in front of the truck. A fourth camera was mounted on the rear of the trailer or the back of the cab. All provided good views of areas difficult to see from the driver’s seat.

The four-by-six-inch LCD color screen was split into four separate areas, one for each camera. The display is triggered by sensors monitoring the turn-signal lever position, reverse gear, vehicle speed, and the radar signals themselves. Once the truck is in motion, the screen is dim and won’t activate until the driver either flips the turn signal lever or scrolls through the screen options to find the desired view. The system can store video images prior to and just after an incident, making accident reconstruction easier even if the display isn’t on.

Bendix, through its parent company Honeywell International, is working on a night-vision system based on infrared technology. It uses an externally mounted infrared camera and an in-cab display that shows heat: another vehicle, for instance, or a bull elk.

Night vision is one area where the auto world beat trucks to market: something similar from Bendix is available now on some Cadillacs, but the “Xvision” truck system won’t be around for a while yet.