Iteris and Delphi Team to Market Active Safety Technologies for Commercial Truck Market

Iteris Broadens Its Active Safety Portfolio by Becoming Exclusive North American Distributor of Delphi’s Forward Collision Warning System for the Heavy Truck Market

TROY, MI—Leaders in advanced traffic management technologies and active safety systems, Iteris, Inc. (AMEX: ITI) and Delphi (PINKSHEETS: DPHIQ) announced that Iteris has been named the exclusive distributor of Delphi’s Forward Collision Warning System for North American commercial vehicles. Iteris will utilize its highly successful commercial truck OEM and aftermarket sales channels and application engineering expertise to integrate Delphi’s radar-based technology into its product portfolio for heavy truck customers. Iteris will also be authorized to sell Delphi’s Side Alert blind spot warning system in North America.

A pioneer in vehicle safety systems, Delphi has more than 35 years experience in developing and manufacturing passive and active safety systems. Delphi began developing active safety more than 20 years ago and was one of the first suppliers to launch a radar-based adaptive cruise control system in 1999. Using the same radar platform, Delphi has continued to add features and functionality to its system including forward collision warning. Additionally, Delphi’s Side Alert blind spot detection system helps alert drivers of heavy truck drivers of vehicles in their side blind spots when changing lanes.

With the addition of forward collision and blind spot warning, Iteris now offers a comprehensive suite of active safety driver assistance features that focus on increasing the safe operation of heavy trucks. These features also include Iteris’ market-leading vision-based Lane Departure Warning system (LDW) and the Iteris SafetyDirect™ LDW data collection system. The combination of these systems creates an overall best-in-class active safety package, which provides not only lane departure warnings but also assists drivers with longitudinal and lateral awareness support.

“I am excited about our agreement that combines Delphi’s unique technology with Iteris’ distribution and marketing capabilities to provide Delphi’s radar-based warning systems to our fleet and OEM customers,” said Abbas Mohaddes, Iteris’ president and chief executive officer. “I expect our relationship with Delphi to expand the opportunity for Iteris to provide best-in-class active safety solutions to the heavy truck market and provide a platform to generate additional revenue.”

Delphi’s Forward Collision Warning system is designed to increase driver awareness of tailgating situations and impending collisions in all weather and lighting conditions. The extra seconds of warning provided by the system help provide drivers with additional time needed to take appropriate action to help avoid a crash. In addition, the system’s Headway Alert feature provides long-range sensing to help the driver maintain a safe following distance well beyond the capability of any vision-based system.

Delphi’s Side Alert blind spot detection system helps commercial vehicle drivers that are changing lanes or engaging in other maneuvers to resolve some of the challenges from blind spots that exist to the sides of heavy trucks. The blind spot warning system helps drivers avoid or reduce the severity of side-related accidents resulting from collisions with vehicles and objects in the side blind spot. When a vehicle or object is detected the system visually alerts the driver to help avoid an accident. When the turn signal is activated and a vehicle or object is detected an audible alert is also provided.

“Delphi is very pleased to team with Iteris, a prominent commercial vehicle product innovator and distributor, to help provide a more comprehensive and integrated active safety suite for the commercial vehicle market,” said Beth Schwarting, vice president of the Delphi Safety Systems product business unit. “Active safety products help to provide drivers of commercial trucks with more time to react to avoid collisions.”

Iteris’ LDW system was the first-of-its-kind to be deployed in the commercial truck and passenger car markets and it still remains the only vision-based system in mass production in the U.S. and Europe. Iteris has sold over 55,000 LDW systems to the heavy truck market worldwide representing an estimated billion of miles traveled per year. In the U.S., there are currently 65 fleets specifying Iteris’ LDW system with a combined fleet size of nearly 49,000 trucks and another 83 fleets with approximately 156,000 trucks conducting field tests.

Iteris’ Safety Direct™ system analyzes real-time lane departure warning data captured by Iteris’ LDW system and can relay this information directly to fleet operators through integration with the truck’s existing fleet communications system. The system provides an immediate warning to fleet operators if their drivers are having difficulty staying in their lanes, often a first indicator of driver drowsiness or other potential problems.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, rear-end, lane change and roadway departure crashes account for approximately 3.6 million police-reported crashes each year on U.S. roadways. These three crash types result in about 27,500 of the Nation’s 42,000 annual traffic fatalities and contribute to a considerable economic loss due to injuries, property damage, and decreased productivity. Iteris’ cutting-edge active safety systems are designed to help reduce the number of motor vehicle crashes and the severity of crash-related injuries.