Grote Industries releases two collision-warning systems at MCE
Key Highlights
- Grote Industries is releasing two new safety features, the H.E.L.P. DeliverSAFE and the 4SEE Rear-Collision Warning System
- The H.E.L.P. DeliverSAFE system allows trucks pulled over at the roadside to set specialized light patterns and send out digital alerts to other drivers, warning them of their location
- Meanwhile, the Rear-Collision Warning System uses a strobe light and radar to warn drivers who are trailing trucks if they're approaching too quickly
Grote Industries debuted two new safety products at the American Trucking Associations’ Management Conference & Exhibition (MCE), the H.E.L.P. DeliverSAFE and the 4SEE Rear-Collision Warning System.
“Safety is the cornerstone of everything we do at Grote Industries,” said Dominic Grote, president & CEO of Grote Industries. “The need for advanced commercial vehicle safety solutions is growing as fleets face tighter FMCSA expectations and the very real risks of roadside and rear-end collisions. H.E.L.P. DeliverSAFE and the 4SEE Rear-Collision Warning System directly address those risks, giving fleets practical, proactive tools that help protect drivers and reduce crashes.”
Grote developed the H.E.L.P. (Hazard Enhanced Location Protocol) DeliverSAFE solution with Emergency Safety Solutions, a company that develops solutions to help avoid crashes with vehicles stuck at the roadside.
"One thing to really note about this is if you think about being stopped on the side of the road; for every minute that you're there, the chance of an accident goes up by 2.8%," said Andrew Grose, VP and GM of Grote Industries while presenting the product at ATA MCE. "So obviously, that's a major issue that we want to be able to address."
To do this, the system provides real-time notifications with the downed vehicle’s exact location in drivers’ navigation apps and in-cab displays. As an example, CJ Biank, global marketing manager, Grote Industries, demonstrated how a 'Car Stop' notification alert for a downed trailer appeared on the Waze app.
Meanwhile, the vehicle itself features Lighting Alerts to make it more visible. The H.E.L.P. system lights are regulatory compliant, according to the company, and flash in a quick, synchronized pattern and activate additional lights to outline the vehicle.
"Not only are you alerting people visually on the road, you're also alerting them on the smartphone navigation apps that they use," Biank asserted.
Then, once they're ready, drivers can turn off the hard-coded alert and lights by holding down two buttons, reverting illumination to standard hazard patterns.
The system is available both as part of Grote’s smart-trailer system, 4SEE, or on its own.
The other solution, the 4SEE Rear-Collision Warning System, uses data processing, a rear radar unit, and an auxiliary strobe lamp to increase safety.
"We're taking [this system] to the next level, from a reactive, brake-activated strobe to a proactive radar-based strobe," Grote explained.
Developed by a partnership between Grote Industries and Einstein AI, the Rear-Collision Warning System calculates the 'time to collision' whenever a car approaches the back of a truck, factoring in its speed and the space between the two vehicles. According to Biank, if that 'time to collision' metric is less than four seconds, then the light flashes, warning the trailing driver that it is approaching too quickly.
"[It's the] same concept as a forward collision [mitigation system], but it's always monitoring, always checking to make sure you're safe," Grose noted.
Built on Grote’s 4SEE Digital Harness, the system is an offshoot of 4SEE and can leverage all of its data, including the speed of the trailer and tractor, the angle the steering wheel is turning, and more.
"It's quite literally a plug-and-play," Grose said. "Because it's a modular harness, if you already have a 4SEE system, you can just put in a splitter and connect that with a module."
It also includes lamp-specific light-out detection and over-the-air updates for added security.
Both the H.E.L.P. and Rear-Collision Warning Systems can be ordered on new trailers and retrofitted on older ones.
About the Author
John Hitch
Editor-in-chief, Fleet Maintenance
John Hitch is the award-winning editor-in-chief of Fleet Maintenance, where his mission is to provide maintenance leaders and technicians with the the latest information on tools, strategies, and best practices to keep their fleets' commercial vehicles moving.
He is based out of Cleveland, Ohio, and has worked in the B2B journalism space for more than a decade. Hitch was previously senior editor for FleetOwner and before that was technology editor for IndustryWeek and and managing editor of New Equipment Digest.
Hitch graduated from Kent State University and was editor of the student magazine The Burr in 2009.
The former sonar technician served honorably aboard the fast-attack submarine USS Oklahoma City (SSN-723), where he participated in counter-drug ops, an under-ice expedition, and other missions he's not allowed to talk about for several more decades.