International Truck and Engine becomes the first commercial truck manufacturer to offer factory-installed electronic theft-deterrent and tracking systems for medium and heavy trucks.
Debuting at the Homeland Security Summit in Washington DC recently, the International Aware vehicle intelligence system tracks trucks anywhere in the nation. When combined with a factory-installed theft-deterrent, the system becomes a two-stage crime prevention system manageable from a fleet manager's desktop.
With International's theft-deterrent system, a truck can be started, but the access code must be entered within seven seconds or the engine will shut down. The seven-second delay is a safety feature for drivers who may have to move a truck a short distance in an emergency situation. If the code is entered incorrectly too many times, it can be programmed to send an alert to the cell phone of a fleet manager or other official.
International Aware is a telematics system that allows authorized individuals to monitor trucks in real-time through a password-protected Internet connection. The system tracks the truck's exact location, direction of travel, and even how fast it is going. Other features include the ability to set up a “geofence,” a virtual electronic boundary on a map where trucks should not cross. For example, if a geofence was established around the nation's Capitol and a truck crossed that imaginary line, an alert instantly would relay to designated officials to inform them that a truck is out of its normal boundary and nearing the building.
It also works for highway tractors that veer off course on an Interstate highway. If a truck appears to be taking a different or a suspicious route, the geofence can alert a fleet manager, who can investigate further to see if it is a troublesome situation or a matter of a detour due to road construction.