UPS plans to outfit more than 60 percent of its Class 8 tractor fleet with collision mitigation technology that alerts drivers when a stationary object is in front of the vehicle, or when a moving object is nearby, the company announced on Tuesday.
Every new Class 8 tractor purchased by UPS since 2015 has been outfitted with the technology, which features blind spot alerts, lane departure alerts, electronic stability control and automatic brake application with forward collision warnings.
The company announced that it would expand its use of advanced collision mitigation technology to an additional 5,700 existing tractors. When the expansion is complete, UPS will have more than 11,000 Class 8 tractors outfitted with the technology.
“UPS has some of the safest drivers on the road, and some of our best drivers have told us that collision mitigation systems help make them even better drivers,” Carlton Rose, the president of global fleet maintenance and engineering at UPS, said. “This investment is indicative of UPS’s commitment to the safety of our employees, their families, our customers and the motoring public.”
The collision mitigation technology package will supplement pre-existing safety features on the vehicles like adaptive cruise control that slows the vehicles to help avoid collisions and promote fuel economy.
“As truck drivers, we all know the right side of our vehicle is our largest blind spot,” John McKown, a UPS Freight driver and captain of American Trucking Association’s America’s Road Team, said. “Now we have technology that watches this every second of the day. Initially, I thought the blind spot alarms would be an annoyance, but now that I’ve driven with this technology I’ve become a believer. Words can’t describe how much I appreciate UPS’s commitment to safety and investing in this technology.”