The pace of safety technology adoption is accelerating across the trucking industry as more fleets are becoming convinced of the benefits, according to several equipment and technology suppliers interviewed by Fleet Owner magazine.
“Ten years ago, there was a lot more convincing we had to do,” said Jon Morrison, WABCO’s president of the Americas. “The return on investment is clear.”
So much so, that truck makers are beginning to offer certain safety technologies as standard equipment.
“The majority of customers are upgrading to premium systems,” said Jim Nachtman, on-highway heavy marketing director for Navistar. “The ability to mitigate even a single incident can offer enough savings to install collision mitigation on a very large number of new vehicles.”
A similar story is playing out at other truck manufacturers, which all offer a variety of safety packages, often blending suppliers’ systems with its own proprietary technology, such as lane departure warning systems, stability control, automatic emergency braking, blind spot assistance, on-board video, and other related systems.
lane deThese technologies have now been around long enough that “fleets are able to do their own research to see the benefits,” said David Smith, who in June was named manager of DTNA’s automated truck research and development center.
Adoption is further accelerating as smaller fleets begin taking ownership of used vehicles on the secondary market with older generations of active safety technologies, Smith added.
“Adding these safety technologies to the trucking fleet is not only cost-effective, but doing so helps to alleviate driver concerns, and prevents crashes. In the long run, it’s a win-win for industry and drivers,” said Jake Nelson, AAA director of Traffic Safety Advocacy and Research.
Full story here.