• MAN has launched its onboard computer in the UK
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following trials of the £1,800 system with two Exel Logistics vehicles based at Swindon.
The computer provides operators with an extra means of monitoring the truck's performance. It comes in two parts. A hand-held unit is used to transfer information such as customer details onto the computer; while a "black box" is used to collect information from the vehicle's tachograph input and (if required) from special sensors placed around the vehicle.
All the information can be taken from the on-board computer and analysed in a personal computer.
MAN says there are some 200 installations of the compu
ter in West Germany, and Britain is only the second market in which the system has been launched.
Operators in Germany have opted for a host of extra sensors (up to 44 extra sensors are possible with each installation) including sensors to monitor load temperatures in refrigerated vehicles, brake pedal sensors (on trucks with excessive brake wear) and oil pressure sensors.
Several German operators have chosen to link their computers to in-cab radios so that they can monitor their vehicles' performance from a distance. MAN engineers in France are developing satellite equipment links to enable operators to monitor their trucks virtually anywhere in the world.