Iteris Inc., Anaheim, Calif., announced Thursday that its Lane Departure Warning (LDW) system will be installed on new trucks purchased by three U.S. commercial truck fleets.

Conover, N.C.-based Piedmont Express, Myrtle Beach, S.C.-based New South Cos. Inc., and another large national fleet, have all purchased new trucks from Freightliner with specifications that include the installation of Iteris' LDW system.
Piedmont Express has been evaluating trucks with LDW since last fall. The company has a fleet of approximately 80 trucks and plans to specify LDW on all new truck orders. New South Express is a private fleet owned by New South Cos. Inc., one of the 10 largest producers of pressure-treated lumber in the U.S., which operates lumber manufacturing facilities in South and North Carolina. The company operates over 50 tractor-trailers in its fleet and is a major back-haul service provider. The company specified LDW on 17 new trucks after testing a sample in November 2004.
The third fleet is a liquid gas and chemical hauler with approximately 600 tractors that will be installing the LDW systems in more than 200 new Freightliner trucks as part of an order that runs through 2006.
Iteris' LDW system was the first product of its kind to be available on commercial trucks in the U.S. and Europe. The technology is currently in use on more than 10,000 commercial trucks in the U.S. and Europe, with more than a billion kilometers traveled.
LDW is designed to prevent inadvertent lane change accidents caused by drowsiness, fatigue or distraction. The system uses a windshield-mounted camera that tracks lane markings using image recognition software and monitors the relative position of the truck within the lane. If the truck inadvertently crosses the lane markings, the system automatically emits a distinctive rumble strip sound on the appropriate side depending on the direction of travel, alerting the driver to make a correction.
For more information, go to www.iteris.com.