ACTIVE ON SAFETY

Crash-avoidance technologies are vital “building blocks” to automate commercial vehicles, implement truck platooning and ultimately achieve zero accidents.

Preco Electronics invented the vehicle backup alarm in 1962 and now seeks to set a similar safety milestone with the PreView Side Defender technology the company showcased at the ConExpo 2017 trade exposition in Las Vegas. The company calls the radar-based side-collision avoidance system “the industry's most-advanced side-object detection solution.”

Targeted at over-the-road vehicles but also suitable for off-road applications, PreView Side Defender provides audible and visual alerts to avoid or mitigate collisions with pedestrians and objects in the side blindspots, an area in which the company said accident frequency is increasing. The range can be from 3 to 8 m (10 to 26 ft) from the vehicle sides and up to 6 m (20 ft) fore and aft.