Schneider plans fleet upgrade

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By January, Schneider National will have replaced a third of its fleet with 3,000 new trucks that offer collision mitigation system, aerodynamic features and cruise control.

The Wisconsin-based truckload carrier is getting 75 trucks a week off the production line, mostly from Freightliner, it announced May 2.

The trucks contain the OnGuard collision mitigation system, which assists drivers in recognizing and responding to scenarios that could lead to a rear-end collision. OnGuard has a forward-looking radar sensor that monitors the distance, speed and deceleration of a vehicle ahead and alerts the driver to take action through an in-cab display.

A warning sounds if there is less than a 3.6 second gap between the truck and the vehicle in front of it. If the driver fails to take appropriate action, the system deactivates the cruise control, depowers the engine and even applies the brakes if necessary to avoid an accident.

The new vehicles also will have aerodynamic features to reduce drag that include wheel covers. Most will offer redesigned fairings and Predictive Cruise Control to improve mileage.

Schneider estimated that the new trucks will save almost 2 million gallons of fuel and cut 22,000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions.