Welcome to the Age of the Smarter, Safer Truck

The level of innovation in the commercial vehicle (CV) sector is accelerating. Technologies in advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS) are helping to keep our roads safer. Did you know that a half-second warning can prevent 60 percent of accidents? That is what Aptiv’s ADAS are doing, as evidenced in this real-life near miss.

You can see, first-hand, in the video from one of our customers how active safety works. The Aptiv active safety system engaged a full brake intervention on this truck and prevented a rear-end collision. The automatic emergency braking (AEB) technology reacted faster than the driver, giving him that extra half-second, in a traffic scenario that drivers encounter daily. In this real-life example, the AEB perhaps even prevented a tragedy; when you consider the size of a truck, the size of the small car it was about to hit and the speed at which vehicles travel on European highways. 

Aptiv provides a full suite of technology and systems integration expertise in four key areas: advanced safety, user experience, data and power distribution and connected services.

Using advanced tech to make the road safer 
Aptiv was the first to put a radar-based adaptive cruise control on a car – a 1999 Jaguar – and we’re now working on our eighth-generation of radar. Aptiv’s innovations in active safety have been core to the growth in the industry. 

Our safety-enhancing solutions have been finalists 14 times in Automotive News PACE Awards, an award recognized around the world as the industry benchmark for innovation – five of those winners. Additionally, we have increased our customer count from five global automakers in 2015 to 20 in 2020.

These significant milestones of technological development are transferrable to the CV market. There are large amounts of investments being made to increase commercial vehicles safe including:

• Autonomous Emergency Braking systems capable of stopping a vehicle if the driver doesn’t. 
• Lane Departure Warning systems that alert drivers if they veer off course.
• Blind Spot Information systems that use radar to detect otherwise hidden bicycles or pedestrians are all being deployed today to decrease the severity of crashes or prevent accidents completely. 

Aptiv is an expert of each of these systems for the Heavy Duty and Medium Duty truck market, as well as the Light Commercial Vehicle market. It has the expertise to combine advanced radar and vision with scalable software and computing platforms that enable advanced driver-assistance systems. 

Technological developments in the CV space are proliferating on the road. In fact, some of this technology will become mandatory. For instance, the European Union has mandated the automotive manufacturers to fit ADAS, such as lane departure warning systems (LDWS) and autonomous emergency braking systems (AEBs) in all heavy commercial vehicles weighing more than 7,000 kilograms. Additionally, in Europe to achieve the NCAP’s highest five-star rating, a car must have active safety systems. In the U.S., all new cars must have back-up cameras, and 20 automakers have agreed to make AEB standard on all new vehicles by 2022.

By helping to make commercial vehicles more vigilant to danger, they are ultimately making the roads a safer place for everybody. With our rich history in active safety technologies, Aptiv is working with an ever-growing number of commercial vehicle companies, organizations and fleet managers. 

Enhancing the user experience
Naturally increasing safety and connectivity by integrating secure compute and high speed networking with sensing technology, software capability and next-generation displays, fundamentally changes how users are presented information and interact with a vehicle.

It’s for this reason that Aptiv offers Multi-Layer Display, or MLD®, technology which is becoming increasingly popular. This technology combines intelligent information delivery with time-sensitive safety benefits so drivers can quickly and easily see contextual information, such as gas stations or depots, and they offer turn-by-turn direction information which can be viewed in a complementary way that allows for the quickest comprehension. 

Cabin management and body tracking technologies can also be deployed to assess driver performance and spot early signs of fatigue, giving drivers and fleet owners the ultimate peace of mind they need on all of their journeys.  



Architecture to handle increased data and power distribution
Commercial vehicles, like their automotive equals, are becoming increasingly connected and defined by software. These software-enabled features are driving more content, which in turn generates massive amounts of data. In the time it took you to blink just now, your vehicle would have exchanged 15,000 pieces of data. And by 2020, that jumps to 100,000 pieces of data. This means that data and power distribution is more important than ever before, so that commercial vehicles are capable of handling what is thrown at them – which is where we come in. 

Leveraging our system integration expertise and smart vehicle infrastructure, we have built an innovative portfolio, which  will enable next generation electrification, connectivity, and active safety. Our harsh environment connection systems are able to withstand strong vibrations and we are one of the first technology providers to bring automotive grade Ethernet to market.

A drive for vehicle connectivity
Commercial vehicle connectivity is another technological development that is being increasingly sought after by fleet owners – which is precisely why we developed CT-Edge, our cloud computing platform and software that acquires and analyzes data at the “edge” of the vehicle network in real time. 

CT-Edge allows OEMs and fleet owners to remotely monitor their fleet’s health, assess driver behavior, optimize vehicle use time and even decrease fuel costs through intelligent navigation. Technologies like these, which place engineering grade data and business intelligence into the hands of those who need it, are quickly becoming essential requirements for commercial vehicle owners looking to get ahead of competition.  

An exciting road ahead 
At Aptiv, we understand that in order to compete in the CV space, companies must innovate and adopt advances in the areas of advanced safety, user experience, data and power distribution and connected services. Aptiv is committed to the CV market. We understand the challenges of the commercial vehicle industry, as well as the intricate logistics ecosystem our customers operate within. It is this very willingness and determination to embrace technological change that defines the commercial vehicle space. 

If you’d like to hear more from our CV team, we will be at the IAA Commercial Vehicles 2018 in Hanover September 20-27 | Pavilion 11.