Stoughton Trailers and Drōv Technologies announced a partnership to offer AirBoxOne smart trailer technology on Stoughton’s trailers. The solution will be available with new trailer production or through retrofitting. This partnership was announced at TMC 2021.
According to the company, Drōv AirBoxOne can read any sensor on the trailer, change and control tire pressure, enable camera setups on the trailer and connects to the driver. It provides tire-pressure monitoring and integrates electronically controlled tire management that inflates and deflates based on load. AirBoxOne also connects to cargo and rear view cameras, ultrasonic backup sensors and additional sensor integrations to detect things including wheel-end temperature, load weight, extreme G-forces, cargo security breaches and advanced brake monitoring.
According to the company, fleets can receive real-time health alerts whenever there is a change in conditions as detected by the sensors configured with AirBoxOne. These alerts, along with real-time information on trailer status, location, etc. are transmitted via secure cloud communications to authorized Drōv web-based mobile or desktop users and provided to fleets via an available software API. The driver will be notified via mobile app when system alerts are triggered for issues with tire pressures, brakes, hubs, door position and other warnings. Through the rear-view camera and ultrasonic sensors, drivers and autonomous power units now have visibility behind the trailer.
AirBoxOne primarily runs on auxiliary power and has a backup battery and solar charging. These three power sources are redundant to make sure the system can always function. Whether due to a worn-out socket, a bad cable or a blown fuse in the tractor, sometimes auxiliary power is either intermittent or not available.
“Without smart trailers, autonomous trucks will not happen,” Lisa Mullen, CEO of Drōv Technologies, said in a press conference announcing the partnership. In a press release, the company called a full communication link between the trailer and the truck “nothing less than essential.”