Wabco Moves Toward Active Steering After Sheppard Acquisition
ATLANTA — Wabco Holdings Inc. laid out its plans to add active steering functions to its safety systems for commercial vehicles a week after completing its acquisition of R.H. Sheppard Co.
By blending its existing braking controls with Sheppard’s steering controls, Wabco will gain “full control of vehicle dynamics,” paving the way toward autonomous driving, Wabco Chairman and CEO Jacques Esculier said.
During a Sept. 26 press conference here at the inaugural North American Commercial Vehicle Show, Esculier introduced OnLane Assist, a system that automatically applies correction torque to the steering wheel when the truck begins to drift out of its lane.
NACV COVERAGE: All stories | Live blog | Photo gallery
The active steering component effectively transforms lane departure warnings into a lane-keeping assist system, a feature that recently has begun to appear in the passenger car market.
Esculier said OnLane Assist will become commercially available by the end of this decade, “probably 2019.”
OnLane Assist will actively intervene if the vehicle starts to deviate from its lane due to driver fatigue or distraction, but the driver still will be responsible for steering the truck and will need to keep his or her hands on the wheel.
However, Esculier said this lane-keeping assist feature represents a major step toward freeway autonomous driving, where the driver can perform other tasks and trust the system to control the commercial vehicle.
“That’s going to be a bit further down the road, but it’s on the horizon,” he said. “Autonomously driven trucks in the highway environment is certainly something we can envisage.”
Wabco completed its purchase of Hanover, Pa.-based Sheppard on Sept. 19. It first announced the agreement Aug. 24.
Wabco also recently signed a long-term agreement with steering supplier Nexteer Automotive to collaborate on the development of active steering systems.
In an interview with Transport Topics, Jon Morrison, president of Wabco Americas, described lane keeping assist as “the next evolution of safety technology.”
“We go from a warning-only system to an active system,” he said.
.@WABCO Chairman, CEO addresses recent acquisitions at #NACV2017 pic.twitter.com/4kv6xQJqto — Seth Clevenger (@SethClevenger) September 26, 2017
That move from lane departure warnings to active steering intervention mirrors the introduction of active braking with the company’s OnGuard collision mitigation system in 2007, he said.
During its NACV press briefing, Wabco also highlighted another future safety feature, evasive maneuver assist. That capability, which Wabco and ZF Group demonstrated on a test track in Germany last year, adds an active steering element to collision mitigation. Emergency maneuver assist is designed to help the driver steer around a stationary object when the vehicle is unable to avoid a collision through braking alone.
At the same time, Wabco is working to enable truck platooning technology, which uses adaptive cruise control and vehicle-to-vehicle communications to allow a pair of trucks to save fuel through significantly shorter following distances.
Esculier also addressed Wabco’s buyout of Meritor Inc.’s stake in the companies’ long-running joint venture, Meritor Wabco. That deal is expected to close Oct. 1, he said.
When Wabco and Meritor formed the 50-50 joint venture 27 years ago, the strategic purpose at that time was to help Brussels-based Wabco gain access to the North American market.
Since then, Wabco’s business model has evolved and the industry itself has transformed, Esculier said.
These changes make it advantageous for Wabco to dissolve the joint venture and “take full ownership of [its] destiny” in this part of the world, he said.
By moving its entire global business under one brand and one team, Wabco is better positioned to serve global manufacturers that also are looking to standardize their platforms across the world, Esculier said.
“We had a great relationship, and a great run,” Morrison said, reflecting on the end of Wabco’s joint venture with Meritor. “We will ensure that transition goes as smoothly as possible.”
