Overdrive Magazine | Trucking Business News & Owner Operator Info
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/358493
26 | Overdrive | August 2014 EquipmEnt pilot while an aircraft is on autopilot, to take over whenever necessary. The autonomous system is designed to take over and allow the driver to monitor vehicle performance in particularly stressful situations, such as heavily con- gested traffic, said Uwe Clausen, director of the Fraunhofer Institute for Material Flow and Logistics. It also can allow the driver to rest in monotonous environ- ments, such as long interstate stretches. Clausen described Highway Pilot as a meeting point for transportation de- mands: It collects and analyzes logistics data such as weather, road conditions, vehicle speed and congestion; it navigates; and it communicates with the shipper, the receiver, the fleet and vehicles around the truck. The result, Clausen said, "will be freight efficiency levels which would have seemed virtually impossible only a few years ago." The truck, a specially equipped Mercedes Actros tractor-trailer, is fitted with front-facing radar sensors and cameras that scan the road and are tied into a Lane Keep- ing Assist system. Additional sensors track areas to the sides and rear and are so precise that not only can they recognize the road's edge by its marker lines, they also can identify surfaces that are not drivable. A vehicle-to-vehicle commu- nication system exchanges data with other vehicles equipped to do so. Even if another vehicle does not have a communica- tion system, Highway Pilot tracks and monitors it. The system, which has a range of about 550 yards, detects things as commonplace as merging vehicles or more serious such as highway debris or an accident. Additionally, when operating in a technologically advanced infrastructure, Highway Pilot allows a truck to talk to it. Traffic control centers would monitor the flow of vehicles and adjust traffic signals to op- timize vehicle flow and reduce congestion. The truck and the driver could be alerted to more distant road conditions. An alert system warns the driver well in advance of reach- ing a highway exit, at which he will need to resume control. Even apart from such instances, the driver always has the option of assuming control. Text INFO to 205-289-3555 or visit www.ovdinfo.com (continued from Page 24)