It's for the lane centering device.
Seen a new ken worth at our hub. Automatic, proximity alarms. Auto brake if you get to close to vehicle in front of you should be awesome on snow and ice when a super trucker cuts you off and your brakes apply.
Earlier in the week, I drove one of the new kenworths. It was my first time, but I heard some things about it.
I suppose it gets some getting used to , but I don't like it. The automatic gearing isn't as quick as I can do it in a regular tractor . I did notice that there is a manual option where you (the driver) can shift gears. To go manual, you slide the gear selector from automatic to manual. On the side of the gear selector are two buttons. The top bottom allows you to go to a higher gear and the bottom button allows you to go to a lower gear. The ability to jump to a higher or lower gear might depend on your rpm. I am sure that it is somewhat the case but I don't know the exact limits but then again your rpm dictates your ability to jump gears in a regular transmission tractor as well.
My regular tractor was in the shop and I got to ride the new ken worth for about 5 hours . I drove to a different hub and on the way there, I stayed with the automatic mode. I must have been really leaving a great following distance as the beeping noise that indicates that I am getting to close to a vehicle in front of me , did not go off. Only later, when traffic tightened up at the exit, did that beeping noise go off.
There is also a gizmo that audibly "informs" the driver if he going over the solid white line on the side of the road. Presumably, this is to wake up a driver who is nodding off . Fortunately, this feature can be disabled for 15 (or 20 , not exactly sure) minutes at a time by pushing a button on the dashboard. It might activate for broken white lines but I did not have it functioning when I was in the middle lane. I did notice it went off when I was in the right lane and moving a little over the white line when a tractor trailer in the middle lane was leaning into my space.
On the way back to my home hub, I went into manual mode once I got in the highway and played with it for awhile, there is a visual indicator on a lcd screen near or where the speedometer is that tells you what gear you are in(you can't tell by where the gear selector is , it just stays in one place unlike the stick shift on the manual transmissions we are all familiar with. So I played with the "manual" for about 10 minutes or so to see what it was about and then went back to automatic mode. I was playing with it experimentally and tentatively so I didn't figure out if I could do a better job shifting the truck than the automatic.
When I got closer to my home hub, traffic tightened up and my vehicle collision avoidance system was beeping up a storm. I THINK that the truck was either braking slightly on its own or the fuel to the engine was being governed to prevent it from going faster. I wasn't able to determine if either was truly happening as my foot was going to the brake at pretty much the same time. I didn't want to push the issue to determine if either were the case as I didn't want to get any closer to the vehicle in front of me. If the brakes are being applied automatically or fuel throttled(cut back) automatically. I don't think that is necessarily a good thing. I could think of an instance or two where this can be not so safe. As the post I quoted said, not great on snow and ice to have a system do it for you. I can also see myself trying to move into the middle lane to the left of me, cutting in front of another vehicle knowing I can do it and then as I do it have a car from the left lane cut in front of me as I enter the middle lane while the same car continues over to the right lane to get to his exit. That's all fine and dandy but the system might slightly brake me or throttle me (cut my fuel) while that car is momentarily in front of me leaving me a slightly dead duck in front of the vehicle I just cut in front of .
Anyway, I broke my cherry on the new vehicle. I am sure I can adjust to it more . Being a new truck, I thoroughly enjoyed the very powerful air-conditioning. Like all new tractors we are getting, it has a radio in the dashboard and I played it a little louder than I would normally do to drown out that beeping noise. I don't like Kenworths, I think the noses are too damn long. I moved the seat up all the way and I still didn't like the view I got of the front. There is a mirror mounted in the front that shows the right side of your tractor. Thank god that the mirror is there as the pole it is mounted on tells me where my front is.
I feel, with my limited experience with with the vehicle avoidance collision system, I can say that it is pretty good for the highway but probably lousy for tighter urban environments like NYC. With my more involved experience with Kenworths, great for the highway, lousy for urban environments.
I look back and see this is a somewhat half baked post and am inclined to delete but for the sake of others who have yet to take their virgin journeys on the new KW with the vehicle collision avoidance system, I will let it stand.
