TCA, GRAPEVINE, TX – Wabco Holdings, a supplier of active safety systems such as collision-avoidance and stability control, and SmartDrive Systems, which offers an in-cab recording device for the trucking industry, announced  they are forming a strategic partnership which allows Wabco to expand its fleet management solutions to commercial vehicle fleets in North America.

According to Steve Mitgang, CEO of SmartDrive Systems, the alliance will allow Wabco’s active safety systems to tie into SmartDrive’s open fleet management platform.

The integration of the two systems “makes sure our cameras go on” whenever there is an alert from WABCO’s lane-departure, collision-avoidance or rollover system.

Mitgang noted that the SmartDrive camera may not react to a subtle shift in G-forces that Wabco’s stability control system picks up. Combining the two systems allow fleets to know which drivers may routinely go into corner too fast. Once identified, these drivers can be given additional coaching on safe driving habits.

Mitgang said that SmartDrive’s open platform allows fleets to more easily make sense of the significant amount of data generated by on-board safety systems. “Data has a shelf life,” Mitgang said. “Our goal is to get data into the hands of the fleets as fast as possible.”

Other developments with SmartDrive’s safety system include the ability of the system to activate whenever a truck makes a U-turn, which typically indicates the driver is lost or missed a turn. By activating the systems video function, a fleet manager can see what the driver was doing just before the U-turn.

SmartDrive’s system now also features a dynamic recording range – meaning that the length of recording can be changed dynamically depending upon the type of event. Typically, the system would record 15 seconds before and 15 seconds after an alert. But by integrating with an active safety system such as collision avoidance, once an alert is issued to the driver that he is following too close, the system can record a longer period – enabling fleets to identify what the driver was doing before the driving to close alert sounded.