Sep 1, 2002 12:00 PM

Bendix Commercial Vehicle Systems shipped its first XVision units to the marketplace in December 2001, after 18 months of development and testing.

XVision is an infrared night vision system developed for trucks, buses, and other commercial vehicles. It uses an exterior-mounted, heat-sensing, infrared camera to detect and instantly transmit images to an in-cab display unit. The images help drivers see pedestrians, animals, and objects in front of the vehicle up to 1,500 feet away or more — three to five times farther than a driver can see at night with headlights. XVision's extended vision range gives the driver up to four times longer to react to potential road hazards than with headlights alone.

When viewing the display unit, the driver sees a real-time, black and white, thermal image of the road in which warmer objects, such as people or animals, show as bright white, while cooler objects, like bridge abutments, guardrails, or trees, show in darker shades of gray or black. The camera can sense temperature differences as slight as 0.4°F. Because the camera is not affected by light, the display image is not susceptible to glare from oncoming headlights. For full details, contact Bendix, 901 Cleveland St, Elyria OH 44035.