Heavy Duty Trucking, January 2019

of Product Marketing Johan Agebrand says even in the early stages of its evolution VDS has tremendous benefits In addition to lane keeping where we nudge the wheel to alert the driver if he or she is drifting from the lane VDA can also provide accurate counter steering in a jackknife situation and maintain lane position in high crosswinds or even in a front tire blowout situation he says The systems can react much faster and without the sometimes debilitating element of surprise to the driver Volvo Trucks North America would not say when we might see VDS here but said engineering is under way With all the talk of automation and electronic control conversation should also turn to the need for redundancy Will regulators require redundant systems Are they necessary with driver assist steering systems Will they get in the drivers way while trying to maneuver The answer to all these questions is basically no We have designed the system so that when a driver takes control during an active steering event the system recognizes driver input and the driver input immediately overrides the active steering system says Jon Morrison president of the Americas at Wabco This is a driver assist feature The driver is in control at all times and can HDT JANUARY 2019 52 WWW TRUCKINGINFO COM has to be comfortable for drivers in the vehicle and other drivers out on the roadway Bendixs Andersky says People think the technology can do more than its actually capable of doing because they hear so much hype about it in the media Dustin Carpenter product line director for steering at Bendix CVS says his company is addressing that concern as well We have the ability to detect hands on the wheel and we can disable certain features if we find drivers arent operating the vehicles properly he explains We will be taking steps to ensure drivers and fleets are protected from certain assumptions about the applications and the roads are ready for the technology Whats coming Volvo Dynamic Steering is already out in the European market on its FH tractors and its precision has been demonstrated in such viral online videos as Jean Claude Van Dammes Epic Split Its an electric power steering system on top of the hydraulics that uses an array of sensors and cameras to control vehicle yaw angles and steering shaft angles Volvo Trucks North America Director STEERING Every emerging technology brings with it a new set of acronyms or strings of words that have never been strung together before Various suppliers will have their own trade names for such technologies but all of them are currently developing some variation on half a dozen or so advancements Youll be hearing terms like these more frequently as the technologies come to market Lane departure warning This now exists in the form of an audible alert such as a beep or buzz from the right or left side of the cab interior signaling that the truck has crossed a lane marker without the use of a turn signal The sound may be accompanied by a blinking light or a light vibration of the steering wheel Lane keeping assist In addition to an audible warning lanekeeping assist will nudge the wheel right or left to keep the truck in the lane if the lane marker is crossed without a turn signal It will attempt to steer the truck back into the lane but the driver can easily override the servo controlled steering input The key word is assist This technology will not self steer the truck down the center of the lane It will only prevent drivers from drifting out of the lane Lane centering Using a combination of cameras lane position sensors and radar the truck will steer itself down the lane This is a Level 4 autonomous technology and is in development Its not expected to come to market for some time to come Return to center The geometry of any steering system will naturally cause the steering to return to its center position and straighten out after a turn But it can be slow and it doesnt always return exactly to center This technology uses sensors on the steering column to identify the center position and with help from an electric motor built onto the hydraulic steering box the system will center the wheels after coming out of a turn Speed dependent steering effort The feel and effort required to turn the wheel of a conventional hydraulic steering system is usually tuned for high speed driving This can leave it a bit on the stiff side for maneuvering into docks or steering at low speed Tuning for a lighter effort at low speed can leave the feel a bit sloppy at highway speeds Speed sensors on the truck can now determine vehicle speed and electronically vary the effort required to turn the wheel at different speeds stiff at highway speed and one finger light at maneuvering speed Torque overlay This term describes the function of the electric motor on an electric over hydraulic steering system The computer controlled electric motor provides additional torque to the steering input shaft varying the amount of effort required of the driver to turn the wheel STEERING ASSISTANCE DEFINITIONS Electric steering assistance comes from an electric motor piggy backed onto a standard hydraulic power steering gear If the electronics go south it reverts back to straight hydraulic PHOTO ZF