Collision Mitigating Systems Will Become a Standard Feature on New Heavy Trucks
Since the availability of collision avoidance and mitigation systems to the truck & bus market, several highway-safety lobbies earlier this year have petitioned the U.S.. based National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to initiate a rulemaking that would require forward collision avoidance & mitigation braking (F-CAM) systems to become mandatory on all new heavy trucks.
The NHTSA has just recently granted the proposed mandate, laying the groundwork for initiating the rulemaking process in October 2015 to “establish a safety standard to require automatic forward collision avoidance and mitigation system on certain heavy vehicles.” The Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA) is in support of the petition, recommending the mandate be applied to vehicles with a GVWR of 10,001 lbs or more.
Prior to making the announcement, the NHTSA had conducted studies on collision avoidance system and said they will continue to evaluate its application through track testing & field operational tests. Collision mitigation systems use radar, laser or optical cameras to detect objects in the vehicle's path, determines their speed, then warns the driver of a potential threat and/or applies the brakes if the driver does not immediately respond.
Learn more about how Collision Mitigation Braking Systems work by checking out the video below:
