Grote Industries debuted new safety products at ATA MCE.
“The need for advanced commercial vehicle safety solutions is growing as fleets face tighter FMCSA expectations and the very real risks of roadside and rear-end collisions,” said Dominic Grote, president & CEO of Grote Industries. “H.E.L.P. DeliverSAFE and the 4SEE Rear-Collision Warning System directly address those risks, giving fleets practical, proactive tools that help protect drivers and reduce crashes.”
Grote developed the H.E.L.P. (Hazard Enhanced Location Protocol) DeliverSAFE solution with Emergency Safety Solutions, a company that develops solutions to help avoid crashes with vehicles stuck at the roadside.
To do this, the system provides real-time notifications with the downed vehicle’s exact location in drivers’ navigation apps and in-cab displays. As an example, CJ Biank, global marketing manager, Grote Industries, demonstrated how a ‘Car Stop’ notification alert for a downed trailer appeared on the Waze app.
Meanwhile, the vehicle itself features Lighting Alerts to make it more visible. The H.E.L.P. system lights are regulatory compliant, and flash in a quick, synchronized pattern and activate additional lights to outline the vehicle.
The system is available both as part of Grote’s smart-trailer system, 4SEE, or on its own.
Rear collision protection
Meanwhile, the 4SEE Rear-Collision Warning System uses data processing, a rear radar unit, and an auxiliary strobe lamp to increase safety.
Developed by a partnership between Grote Industries and Einstein AI, the Rear-Collision Warning System calculates the ‘time to collision’ whenever a car approaches the back of a truck, factoring in its speed and the space between the two vehicles to trigger light flashes if the closing speed is too fast.
Both the H.E.L.P. and Rear-Collision Warning Systems can be ordered on new trailers and retrofitted on older ones.
About the Author
John Hitch
Editor-in-chief, Fleet Maintenance, Senior Editor, Trailer-Body Builders
John Hitch is the editor-in-chief of Fleet Maintenance, where his mission is to provide maintenance management and technicians with the the latest information on the tools and strategies to keep their fleets' commercial vehicles moving.
He is based out of Cleveland, Ohio, and has worked in the B2B journalism space for more than a decade.
Hitch was previously senior editor for FleetOwner, and covers everything related to trucking and commercial vehicle equipment, including breaking news, the latest trends and best practices. He previously wrote about manufacturing and advanced technology for IndustryWeek and New Equipment Digest.
Prior to that he was editor for Kent State University's student magazine, The Burr, and a freelancer for Cleveland Magazine. He is an award-winning journalist and former sonar technician, where he served honorably aboard the fast-attack submarine USS Oklahoma City (SSN-723).