Look, Ma, No Hands!

EAST LIBERTY, Ohio — Staying on the straight — and curved — narrow has long been the truck driver’s most important job, but technology is ready to lend a helping hand.

ane-tracking devices are among the equipment-based solutions being touted primarily as safety devices to combat mistakes made by drowsy drivers. Some day, however, the concept could do all the steering.

The evolving technology was on display at ITS America’s Demo ’99 — from lane-tracking equipment available today to futuristic systems using magnets that could take the steering wheel out of the driver’s hands.

Three trucks, a snow plow and a number of vans, sport utility vehicles and cars demonstrated a wide array of gadgetry at the Transportation Research Center test track, 50 miles northwest of Columbus, Ohio, July 26 to 28. Heavy-truck manufacturers Freightliner, Mack and Volvo came to the track with vehicles equipped to keep them running in the middle of the road lane.

The Mack and the Volvo trucks sported SafeTrac, made by Assistware Technology, Wexford, Pa. It consists of a small video camera that monitors the vehicle’s position within the lane and box placed on the dashboard to control a warning system.

The device reminds drivers to pay closer attention or pull over if they start to get drowsy, said Assistware’s Dean Pomerleau.

The SafeTrac system tallies a score based on a profile of a driver’s typical drift from the center of a lane when he or she is fresh. If the driver starts to show a pattern of weaving, the score goes down, and the warning system gives audio alerts and posts a visual message that says “GET REST.” When a truck veers out of its lane, an alarm sounds.

Carriers even have the ability to rate driver performance with the system, Pomerleau said.

For the full story, see the August 2 print edition of Transport Topics. Subscribe today.