Collision Warning Protects Eaton’s ‘Innovation’ Truck
The Eaton-Vorad collision warning system was designed to make a driver aware of following distances and to prevent accidents caused by poor visibility, tailgating or a car being in a blind spot of the truck, Eaton Corp. officials said.
Collision warning, along with other high-tech gadgets, was on display during a June 14 demonstration that gave Transport Topics a look at Eaton’s view of the future truck.
Products on the vehicle still under development include an on-board computer screen for tracking engine, brake and tire status as well as for displaying a vehicle’s blind spots. The truck also is equipped with a lane-tracking indicator that emits a warning if the vehicle drifts out of its lane.
Ken Ciarlone, northeast sales representative for Eaton-Vorad, said some of the other technologies, such as blind-spot monitors, lane- tracking detectors and brake condition sensors, will not be commercially available for another two years.
Eaton-Vorad is the commercial name for the collision warning product being sold by Eaton Corp., Cleveland. The system uses high-frequency radar to detect other vehicles in blind spots along the sides and in front of a truck. Small sensors that detect objects between two and 10 feet away are mounted near the side and are triggered when a driver engages the turn signal. A larger sensor with a range of 350 feet is embedded in the front bumper and activates a series of increasingly urgent beeps whenever a truck is within two seconds of impact with another vehicle.
“This system is most useful for heavy fog and whiteout conditions when visibility is bad,” said Ralph Leach, the demonstration driver and northeast service manager for the company.
In addition to warning drivers, Eaton-Vorad, which costs about $2,300 a unit, stores safety data. Information in the database is similar to an airplane’s black box. If an accident occurs, investigators can see if the radar picked up the information on what caused it.
The system also enables companies to track average speeds, percentage of idle time and the time drivers spend too close behind other vehicles in developing a safety profile.
Eaton claims its system will save companies money through accident prevention, reduced insurance rates and better fuel efficiency.
Doug Gilmer, safety manager with Cardinal Freight, Concord, N.C., agreed with that assessment.
“We now have about 80 trucks with the Eaton-Vorad system in use and those trucks gone about 4.5 million miles with no over-the-road accidents,” he said.
“Without a doubt, the system has prevented accidents, and it has improved the overall performance of our drivers,” Gilmer said. “It’s a good training tool because we can look at the driver profiles and target problems with performance.”
There also has been a significant reduction in maintenance costs for trucks that have Eaton-Vorad systems, Gilmer said. However, he wasn’t sure if that was coincidence or the result of better overall driver performance.
One carrier that is testing 10 units said, on condition of anonymity, that it will not tell drivers that the system is in place for the first month. This will help the company determine a driver’s performance and how often the drivers get too close to vehicles in front of them.
After a month, the company will install the on-board warning system and allow the drivers to use it as a training device. It will also see if the device helps to reduce the number of accidents and saves money, as Eaton-Vorad claims.
An option with the collision warning system is the automatic cruise control system. Drivers can set a range between two and four seconds from impact. If a truck is within the preset distance, it will automatically slow down by engaging the engine retarder. The truck then automatically downshifts, and resumes cruising speed when the other vehicle is out of range.
The “innovation” truck also was outfitted with Eaton’s tire maintenance system, which should be on the market in late 1999, according to Alan Coloske, senior business analyst with the company. The system alerts the driver when a tire has a slow leak. Sensors will direct air into the tire until it can be serviced.
The on-board computer displays such information as battery voltage, coolant temperature, oil temperature and pressure, tire pressure and brake status. Other details that can be pulled up on the screen include side and rear camera views, gas mileage and the status of the refrigeration system.
Drivers can get this information by other means, Ciarlone said, “but this is the first time that it will all be available at the driver’s fingertips in one consolidated system.”
The computer is a standard PC, stored below the truck’s console. The screen is positioned to the right of the dashboard. Eaton is attempting to refine the computer or its storage so that it will absorb the pounding it receives on the road.
Certain bugs in the video system were evident during the demonstration. For one, the rear monitor was not functioning because of a problem involving the camera hook-up between the trailer and the computer. Also, there was a brief problem booting up the video function on the on-board computer.
In addition to correcting these glitches, Eaton-Vorad is attempting to find a way of preventing condensation from accumulating inside the glass that protects the videocamera, Ciarlone said. These problems will be corrected before these products are brought to market, he said.
