Radar Safety Technologies, a newly formed safety technology and product company, on Tuesday, March 11, announced its new organization and website during a press conference at company headquarters in Troy, Mich. RST also announced its first safety product for the commercial vehicle market.
RST is utilizing more than 50 years of experience and knowledge to research, design, develop, market and sell the next generation of safety technology products, says Charlie Rashid, the company’s president and chief technical officer. RST will deliver safety technologies and market its product portfolio to several audiences, first to the commercial vehicle market, and later to military, recreational, mining and automotive groups.
“We feel that’s who this safety technology will benefit the most,” says Alan S. Boyd, vice president of operations, commenting on the company’s decision to first target the commercial vehicle market.
RST also announced its FrontAlert Collision Alert System, designed to detect hazards in a vehicle’s path and alert the driver of a potential collision. FrontAlert CAS initially will be aimed at the commercial vehicle market and will be available in the second quarter of 2008. FrontAlert CAS uses proprietary GERS technology to calculate the vehicle’s speed and its closing speed with another vehicle in front of it, offering a robust threat/nonthreat alert source, the company says.
“The market has already spoken regarding radar-based collision alerting systems,” says Jeffrey T. Barylak, vice president of marketing. “Units are being sold in small quantities because the market remains constrained by poor in-field performance of incumbent products, which ultimately has produced slow penetration rates.” Barylak says manufacturers of similar products have achieved only 3 percent market penetration up until now.
“RST has researched, designed and developed the new FrontAlert Collision Alert System that will solve the current product shortcomings and fulfill customer needs for front collision alert systems in the commercial vehicle market space,” Barylak says. “RST breaks through the performance and value barrier with FrontAlert CAS.”
A green light indicates the system is active, while a yellow light means an object has been detected, and a red light in tandem with an audible signal means the driver should use caution; a second red light, along with a faster and louder audible warning, tells the driver to take action.
The system — which looks out at a distance of 1,000 feet maximum — works in all elements, the company says, and looks straight ahead only, ignoring guard and bridge railings, among other non-vehicle objects. At speeds below 10 mph, the FrontAlert CAS “steps aside,” the company says, allowing the driver to maneuver in tight spaces — such as when parking or approaching a dock — without the alarm activating.
Barylak says FrontAlert CAS — which will be offered first as an aftermarket product, and later to OEMs — not only will deliver on the industry’s first easy-to-understand driver interface display, it also will deliver on robust threat and non-threat alert schemes. “RST is listening to their future commercial vehicle customers and have designed in many additional benefits and features.”
Barylak says RST will introduce and define those initiatives at the Mid-American Trucking Show March 27-29 in Louisville, Ky.
Rashid also introduced several staff members:
RST also introduced its new company website at www.rstglobal.net.
