Wabash National Corp. has announced an alliance with trailer tracking system provider Terion, which is expected to play a key role in the development of smarter trailers.

Wabash National will factory install Terion’s FleetView Trailer Monitoring System and provide sales, installation and service through its nationwide distribution network. The companies have also agreed to co-develop and market advanced trailer management systems that improve trailer utilization and fleet productivity through the integration of FleetView with Wabash’s Smart Trailer technology.
Wabash chairman Jerry Ehrlich said the company is expected to begin production of its MBS2 Smart Trailer system next month. This system will have the added "brainpower" to handle a number of other trailer sensing and recording technologies.
The future system co-developed with Terion will be branded as RealView and will have the ability to provide functions such as:
* Storing an electronic trailer ID number.
* Tracking trailer mileage.
* Sensing wheel rotation direction (to trigger backup lights and alarms when the trailer is backing).
* Sensing distance to a dock as the trailer is being backed.
* Automatically lift steerable axles when the trailer is being backed up.
* Monitor heat build-up at wheel spindles and warn of imminent bearing failure and/or wheel loss.
* Monitor brake stroke and warn when it is out of adjustment.
* Monitor brake lining wear.
Ehrlich said Terion's system will allow fleets to monitor these critical trailer systems remotely. He said a fleet could potentially manage its trailers entirely from a computer. "They could find the trailer, determine if it's dispatchable (is it empty, are the brakes OK?), handle maintenance on demand, and prevent catastrophic failures such as wheel loss," he said.
Terion and Wabash say they will offer the RealView product and services as an OEM installation, as well as on a retrofit basis.
The two companies first announced their intent to form an alliance in March.