Most of our newer tractors at work are now equipped with a version of adaptive cruise control called "Volvo Enhanced Cruise", or VEC..and it's actually far more than simple adaptive cruise by itself. It's quite interesting and the company can program them with a variety of features and such.
Many of the drivers hate them because one of the "features" is a warning if you are tailgating...and the warning is an escalating beeping that starts slow and low, and gets louder and more annoying. It is what it is and I totally see the companies perspective behind it - it DOES stop you from following too close, although it can be annoying sometime when you're trying to creep up on someone to eventually pass without pulling out a mile too early to avoid the warnings. It does occasionally false trigger on things like reflective signage on on and offramps, etc.
It has the ability to apply the brakes as well as either part of the adaptive cruise (IE, passing through a town with a reduced speed limit, the truck will pace itself to traffic as you roll through, up to and including applying service brakes), but it will also apply the brakes in a far more agressive fashion (along with a sound and light show on the cluster MFD, it gets your attention in a hurry) if it detects an imminent collission.
It really is a pretty decent system. When they first came out 3-4 years ago they were buggy and annoying as hell, but the technology has come a long way.
Here's a bit of video (not me) that demonstrates it - in both scenarios it shows in the video it was the "Imminent Collission" alert it was sounding - the "creep" and "warning" alerts are quite a bit less annoying, but they do get tiring after a very short period so it does get the drivers to increase their space (when driving in manual mode) to add increased buffer. Again, that's where some guys don't like it...but it is what it is - a lot of guys DO follow too close.
[video=youtube;pYvtlyb0UIY]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYvtlyb0UIY[/video]
Many of the drivers hate them because one of the "features" is a warning if you are tailgating...and the warning is an escalating beeping that starts slow and low, and gets louder and more annoying. It is what it is and I totally see the companies perspective behind it - it DOES stop you from following too close, although it can be annoying sometime when you're trying to creep up on someone to eventually pass without pulling out a mile too early to avoid the warnings. It does occasionally false trigger on things like reflective signage on on and offramps, etc.
It has the ability to apply the brakes as well as either part of the adaptive cruise (IE, passing through a town with a reduced speed limit, the truck will pace itself to traffic as you roll through, up to and including applying service brakes), but it will also apply the brakes in a far more agressive fashion (along with a sound and light show on the cluster MFD, it gets your attention in a hurry) if it detects an imminent collission.
It really is a pretty decent system. When they first came out 3-4 years ago they were buggy and annoying as hell, but the technology has come a long way.
Here's a bit of video (not me) that demonstrates it - in both scenarios it shows in the video it was the "Imminent Collission" alert it was sounding - the "creep" and "warning" alerts are quite a bit less annoying, but they do get tiring after a very short period so it does get the drivers to increase their space (when driving in manual mode) to add increased buffer. Again, that's where some guys don't like it...but it is what it is - a lot of guys DO follow too close.
[video=youtube;pYvtlyb0UIY]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYvtlyb0UIY[/video]
