Intelligent transportation systems near deployment
42 Commercial Carrier Journal October 2008 C ommercial vehicle traffic will increase significantly over the coming years. Numerous studies say the increase will strain highway capacity and adversely affect safety, mobility and the environment, and that the capacity of the nation's highway system will continue to fall short of demand. Faced with this growing challenge, federal agencies are working actively to deploy intelligent transportation systems (ITS) in a relatively short timeframe. The goal is to speed the flow of commercial traffic, reduce inefficiency and, ultimately, reduce accidents. Many ITS initiatives are designed to aid all highway users, but several are specific to commercial trucks. To date, weigh station bypass is the most widespread and popular application of intelligent transportation technology as it applies specifically to commercial operations. The majority of weigh stations with this technology use PrePass, a technology-driven system administered by a public-private partnership called HELP Inc. Today, about 422,000 trucks are equipped with PrePass, according to the PrePass website (www.prepass.com). The other bypass system is Norpass, which is used in a handful of states. PrePass and Norpass use transponders on trucks that emit radio signals in response to stationary roadside readers. If the truck belongs to a motor carrier that is deemed by a database to be sufficiently safe and compliant, the driver receives a signal in the truck to bypass the weigh station. Otherwise, the driver gets a signal to pull off for an actual inspection. By allowing drivers to maintain road speed, weigh station bypass saves valuable time and fuel. Faster inspections The popularity and success of weigh station bypass has encouraged the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration to lay the groundwork for wireless roadside inspections (WRI), which would capture information from a vehicle's onboard computers and feed it into software systems that inspectors would use to determine automatically if the vehicle is in compliance with state and federal regulations. WRI represents a move toward frequent and automatic electronic inspec-tions. Weigh-in-motion systems have enabled the agency to record 177 million weigh inspections annually with only a 0.29 percent violation rate. WRI could Faster, smarter roadways Intelligent transportation systems near deployment By Aaron Huff technology n add improved digital mapping software to its Xatanet on-demand fleet operations software, to be available in November as part of the Xatanet 4.3 release. n Arsenault Associates (www.arsenault.biz) released Dossier Version 4.6, the latest edition of its maintenance management software. The new version includes hundreds of software upgrades and enhancements, as well as three new modules, including the Dossier Tire Management System. n (www.tcgcis.com) announced Fuel on the Fly, the latest enhancement to its Cost Information System designed to allow motor carriers to adjust fuel costs to reflect specific price levels and bet-ter analyze freight profitability. n TransCore (www.transcore.com) introduced CabLink, a 100 percent sat-ellite mobile terminal with next-gener-ation technology for small to mid-sized carriers that need economical options for in-cab communications and sensor-enabled tracking and monitoring of mobile assets. n , designers of a Windows XP-embedded onboard computing system, announced the availability of its interface with TMWSuite, an enterprise transportation software system from TMW Systems. n (www.mile.com) now offers low monthly subscription pricing for bundles of FreightBill Express, a fleet management and accounting software system for small fleets. Pricing starts at $99 per month. in brief FMCSA is testing several systems that could allow truckers to reserve parking spots in advance.