WABCO Holdings Inc., a global supplier of technologies that improve the safety, efficiency and connectivity of commercial vehicles, unveiled its OnHand electro-pneumatic parking brake control for trucks and buses. WABCO’s OnHand, featuring unique valve engineering and advanced mechatronics, marks the commercial vehicle industry’s first stand-alone parking brake control and supplies yet another technological building block toward autonomous driving.
Creatively engineered to be the industry’s leanest and only solution of its kind that can operate independently of the vehicle’s air processing unit, OnHand braking technology provides automatic engage and release functionality. Actuated via a dashboard switch, the control system also checks and validates the safe parking of the truck and trailer combination, including on sloping roads. In addition, OnHand can provide back-up braking in case of electrical service-brake failure in redundant systems for autonomous driving applications.
Using only three internal valves and requiring less pneumatic piping than conventional parking brake controls, OnHand’s compactly designed innovation increases installation flexibility for vehicle makers, improves reliability of braking performance and further eases on-the-road serviceability. It also enables multiple braking-related options such as Anti-Lock Braking Support during secondary braking and Advanced Hill Start Aid for inclined roads.
Furthermore, OnHand integrates with WABCO’s mBSP modular braking system platform, a technology featuring the commercial vehicle industry’s highest degree of standardization. Another industry first-to-market in 2014, and now in series production, mBSP offers vehicle makers flexibility to equip truck and bus platforms with either anti-lock braking (ABS) or electronic braking (EBS) systems around the world, avoiding the design and production overheads of different configurations.
“OnHand represents our industry’s first stand-alone parking brake control for trucks and buses, and it once again demonstrates WABCO’s differentiation as technology partner of choice for vehicle makers globally,” said Jorge Solis, WABCO president, Truck, Bus and Car Original Equipment Manufacturers Division. “This technology mobilizes vehicle intelligence because it is uniquely independent of the vehicle’s air management system, resulting in easier adaptability for truck and bus platforms globally and higher flexibility for manufacturers to install OnHand.”
OnHand technology leverages WABCO’s decades of experience in engineering and manufacturing diverse combined mechanical and electronic – mechatronic – control systems. Helping to improve vehicle safety and driver comfort, OnHand is designed to scale cost effectively to meet specific needs of original equipment manufacturers worldwide. Compliant with ISO 26262, the international standard for functional safety of electrical and electronic automotive systems, OnHand supports and enhances modern cockpits and dashboards.
