Volvo Trucks has revised its I-See forward-looking cruise control system before it has even been incorporated into the first FH production trucks.
I-See was unveiled last summer as part of the package of technology available in the new FH tractor unit, which goes into production this month.
Unlike other predictive cruise control systems from Scania and Mercedes-Benz that use three-dimensional mapping to look ahead at the topography to better manage automated gear-shifting and speed control, I-See uses the gradient sensor that is part of the I-Roll function of Volvo’s I-Shift automated gearbox.
When a truck encounters a hill for the first time, the I-See’s electronic brain records and stores the rate of gradient change and, along with the location of the hill, as determined by the GPS. Next time the truck approaches the same hill, this data is used to manage the truck’s control strategy, provided cruise control is used.
This is claimed to improve overall fuel consumption by 2.0% in typical terrain, and by as much 5% in hilly areas.
But with this revised version of I-See the topography data is transmitted to a Volvo central server and held there, along with data collected from every other I-See-equipped truck.
This is shared among all users and transmitted to every I-See truck in that particular area. This eliminates the need for individual truck to ‘learn’ the topography first, so Volvo argues that I-See’s fuel-saving benefits will be delivered sooner.
I-See is part of the FH’s optional ‘long distance fuel package’ or may be specified separately, with a list price of £2,460.
Volvo recently released teaser shots of its forthcoming FM truck, which will launch later this month.
Related used vehicles for sale
