Source: Bendix
ELYRIA, Ohio – Expanding steering-centered technologies to complement its robust braking and electronics portfolio, Bendix Commercial Vehicle Systems LLC is taking further steps toward more deeply integrated systems and capabilities, an integral part of the pathway to highly automated and safer vehicles.
Resources built through recent acquisitions and agreements, as well as investments in expertise and facilities, are providing the tools and talent with which Bendix continues its leading-edge development and manufacture of active safety, air management, braking and steering solutions for commercial vehicles across North America.
“For more than eight decades, the Bendix name has been synonymous with air braking and vehicle safety,” said TJ Thomas, director of marketing and customer solutions – Controls Group, at Bendix. “Now, with the continued fusing of more vehicle technologies into our advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), it’s a natural step to add steering to the Bendix portfolio and deepen our knowledge in that arena, since brakes and steering are the main ADAS actuators.”
Last year, Bendix acquired the ProSteering business of JM Engineered Products, a Lebanon, Tennessee-based remanufacturer of all-makes power steering systems. This expanded the manufacturing and steering gear expertise built over six decades by Bendix and its parent company, the Munich, Germany-based Knorr-Bremse Group.
In March 2019, Knorr-Bremse completed its acquisition of Hitachi Automotive Systems’ commercial steering business, which included key components of steering gears and torque overlay steering, crucial elements in the future of driver assistance and highly automated driving solutions. Additionally, another Knorr-Bremse agreement brought the use of Sentient Blueprint Steering – in production use since 2013 – into the fold, providing Bendix with steering-related software to integrate camera input and power new ADAS functions.
Powering the Next Generation of ADAS
“Taken together, all of these efforts represent a major addition to what Bendix can offer vehicle manufacturers and customers, whether we’re talking about systems including ADAS functionality steering, or components like OEM and aftermarket base steering gears,” said Dustin Carpenter, Bendix product line director for Steering. “One example of this is Lane Centering on the next generation of the Bendix® Wingman® Fusion™ collision mitigation system. Lane Keeping Assist, active return, and steering assist are also other functionalities that will be enhanced by the steering software’s proven capability to do things like resist disturbances from the road and tires without compromising steering feel.”
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