WABCO Holdings has demonstrated the prototype of a claimed breakthrough collision avoidance technology for commercial vehicles.
Jointly developed with ZF, the Evasive Manoeuvre Assist (EMA) combines WABCO's braking, stability and vehicle dynamics control systems on trucks and trailers with ZF's top active steering technology, a claimed industry first.
Go deeper with GlobalData
Discover B2B Marketing That Performs
Combine business intelligence and editorial excellence to reach engaged professionals across 36 leading media platforms.
"EMA marks yet another critical step toward enabling autonomous driving in the commercial vehicle industry," a statement said.
Evasive Manoeuvre Assist leverages the capabilities of WABCO's industry-leading OnGuardActive, its most advanced, radar-only collision mitigation system. A radar sensor identifies moving or stationary vehicles ahead and alerts the driver via visual, audio and haptic signals of impending rear-end collisions. Should the driver determine that the system cannot avoid a rear-end collision by driver-initiated or autonomous braking alone, the assist engages to help the driver to safely steer around an obstructing vehicle and to bring truck and trailer to a complete and safe stop. In such situations, this new collision avoidance function is connecting electronic braking, advanced emergency braking system (AEBS), electronic stability control (ESC) and vehicle dynamics control systems to ZF's electrohydraulic ReAX power steering system.
The system controls both the longitudinal and lateral movements of heavy-duty trucks and trailers in challenging driving situations at high-speed, thereby helping to avoid rear-end collisions. Critical driving situations may include traffic jams that appear suddenly after curves or when driving on wet, low friction road surfaces.
"Today's Evasive Manoeuvre Assist prototype demonstration is a powerful example of WABCO's and ZF's leadership in developing advanced safety technologies for commercial vehicles," said Jacques Esculier, chairman and chief executive officer, WABCO.
"I'm excited that ZF and WABCO joined forces to combine their world-class steering and braking technologies to create a new collision avoidance functionality for commercial vehicles," said ZF's new CEO Stefan Sommer.
