The Indian bus market is known for its sheer size and scale and is second to China in terms of number of buses sold every year. Popular for its front-engine buses with bus bodies built by third party bodybuilders, the market is fast transforming into a mature and organized sector with fully-built solutions from OEMs gaining traction thanks to fleet customers’ growing preference for the same.
From a technology perspective too, the market is evolving steadily, with products and solutions that improve profitability, increase efficiency and ensure comfort and safety of passengers being welcomed by the fleets as well as the end users.
Another important change impacting the industry is on the regulatory front. The Bus Body Code AIS 052 is already in place with the goal of increasing the safety and comfort of passengers. The AIS 153 notification mandates all buses to have additional safety features while AIS 140 ensures buses are equipped with telematics with emergency switches. The AIS 053 (School Bus Code) and AIS 119 (Sleeper Bus Code) have also introduced stringent norms for safety compliance in the respective vehicle segments.
WABCO’s value proposition
Making the most of the dynamic market scenario, WABCO, a leading provider of technologies and services to the commercial vehicle industry, has emerged as a proven partner for bus fleets in the country, through its range of solutions, aimed at making road transportation safer, more efficient, thereby lowering the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) and providing higher uptime.
WABCO supports the aspirations of the fleets through retrofit solutions, application engineering and homologation support. Supplementing this, the company has trained service and application engineers and offers pan-India service and support network to its customers across the country.
WABCO India’s solutions for bus fleets help improve the safety, efficiency and connectivity of vehicles.
Accelerating towards road safety
WABCO offers numerous technological solutions that make bus journeys safer for the drivers, passengers, pedestrians and other vulnerable road users on busy, city streets. From smart braking systems to stability control and modular door mechanisms, these technologies help buses become a vital and useful part of a modern, connected, transportation network.
PAN™ Air Disc Brakes (ADB)
WABCO’s PAN™ Air Disc Brakes for light, medium and heavy CVs are known for their lightweight design and proven single-piston technology that deliver superior performance and offers significant improvement over drum brake application. PAN is designed to be maintenance free through lifetime lubrication and easy radial pad exchange. The service cost is reduced considerably, thus resulting in extended service intervals. This globally proven product has been successfully applicated on CVs in markets including Europe, the US, Brazil & China. PAN range of Air Disc Brakes have been applicated by a number of leading bus fleet operators in India as well.
Door control solutions
WABCO offers an integrated solution comprising door systems (pneumatic and electric), in combination with its door control solution. The fully integrated door solution incorporates safety features for bus variants in compliance with the latest legislative requirements. WABCO electronically-managed door control systems are designed with integrated safety functionalities including emergency and blocking functionality. The door control’s patented single-valve-solution and fewer components results in easy and cost-effective installation while its modular structure system can control up to 8 doors offering universal use and quick adaptation to different bus door variants.
Anti-Lock Braking Systems (ABS)
WABCO pioneered Anti-Lock Braking Systems (ABS) for commercial vehicles as an industry first. The active safety system assists drivers in situations where combinations of road friction, road curvature and vehicle speed result in an unfavorable wheel slip. The system automatically intervenes to help keep the vehicle stable and controllable in a wide range of different maneuvers. The wheel speed sensors automatically detect when a wheel is going to lock and optimizes control of the vehicle during braking intervention. In addition, ABS helps to prevent flat spots and maximize tire life. This technology from WABCO is a proven one with millions of systems on the road worldwide.
ESCsmart™ – Electronic Stability Control
WABCO’s ESCsmart™ is an active add-on safety functionality on standard ABS which automatically intervenes to help the driver improve vehicle stability in the event of dynamic driving maneuvers. The system automatically intervenes on detecting the vehicle stability entering a critical phase and protects the vehicle against rollover, skidding and jackknifing. More than 1.5 million ESCsmart™ systems are under use globally.
Electronic Braking Systems (EBS)
Another offering in the braking domain, WABCO’s EBS offers full range of braking performance thereby enhancing overall road safety. WABCO’s EBS offers electronic activation of all braking system components, to shorten response time, balance brake forces and provide efficient brake management between service and endurance brakes. The EBS system enables shorter stopping distances compared to conventional braking systems. WABCO is a global market leader for EBS with more than 2.5 million units in the market globally.
ADAS + DBMS
WABCO’s Advanced Driver Assistance System (ADAS) with Driver Behaviour Monitoring System (DBMS) includes a dual camera system to monitor road and driver status during driving and automatically uploads warning data to a cloud management platform for driver risk assessment and dedicated fleet management. The solution includes a number of features such as forward collision warning, lane departure warning, headway monitoring and warning, pedestrian collision warning, etc. and issues early warning signals to prevent accidents with a recorded figure of 80 per cent reduction in rear-end crashes.
Reverse Parking Assist System (RPAS)
Specially designed for India, WABCO’s Reverse Parking Assist System uses up to four parking sensors and gets automatically activated when the reverse gear is engaged. Customizable to meet AIS 145 regulations, this system automatically warns the driver through an audio signal when the vehicle approaches a barrier or object.
Central Vehicle Controller
WABCO’s Vehicle Electronic systems provide a range of intelligent control units that deliver solutions for the vehicle’s electronic architecture. The Central Vehicle Controller is a multiplexing unit that orchestrates vehicle functions such as light, wiper or climate control. It is mandated by AIS 153 and is another offering from WABCO with more than 10,00,000 units on the road worldwide.
Efficiency solutions for greener transportation
WABCO makes passenger transportation operate with enhanced efficiency and with higher comfort. WABCO’s technologies help to improve fuel economy, reduce Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) and ensure that fleets maximize their uptime.
OptiDrive™ AMT
The OptiDrive™ Automated Manual Transmission (AMT) is a modular transmission automation system that easily adapts to a wide range of manual gearboxes through innovative modularity. This award-winning technology from WABCO is available for 5-speed up to 18-speed applications and enables fully autonomous gear shifting and clutching. The transmission is gaining popularity in the Indian market thanks to the fuel saving it offers, approximately up to 5% when compared to manual transmission and its ability to reduce mechanical wear, which lowers maintenance costs and vehicle downtime. In addition, OptiDrive frees the drivers from constant clutch and shift operations through automated, optimized gear shifting, offering additional benefits such as increased safety, increased driver productivity and reduced driver fatigue.
OptiTire™
WABCO’s OptiTire™, the next-gen Tyre Pressure Monitoring System (TPMS) constantly monitors the performance per tire. As soon as a tire issue is detected, OptiTire alerts the driver thus contributing to optimized vehicle uptime, increased tire life and fuel efficiency. The product works with three sensor options: internal valve mounted, internal strap-mounted and external wheel module. It is a versatile solution capable of monitoring up to 20 rolling wheels plus two spare wheels with a central unit.
Air Suspension with Electronic Controls
WABCO offers next-gen air suspension system equipped with its award-winning Electronically Controlled Air Suspension (ECAS) controls. The product has been designed specially for Indian road conditions and offers unmatched ride handling and improved driving dynamics.
c-comp™
The c-comp™ is a compressor with an integrated multi-disc pneumatic clutch to disengage the compressor during off-load phases. It provides significant fuel savings by reducing off-load power consumption while also reducing maintenance costs. The c-comp is a mature and robust solution with hundreds of thousands of units on the road globally.
FuelGuard™
WABCO’s FuelGuard™ is engineered for optimized performance with less energy consumption. This Electronically Controlled Air Processing Unit incorporates air dryer, multiple circuit protection valve, pressure sensors and power reduction / clutch steering functions in a single system. It is connected via CAN-bus to the vehicle’s electronic architecture and supports a wide range of vehicle types and applications due to its modular design, small size, low weight and rich set of options. FuelGuard can increase fuel savings by approximately up to 2% when used in conjunction with c-comp compressor.
Diesel Exhaust Fluid
WABCO’s Diesel Exhaust Fluid (DEF) maintains the efficiency of the selective catalytic reduction unit. With the advent of BS-VI all diesel-powered commercial vehicle engines will be equipped with Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) and require Diesel Exhaust Fluid (DEF). Designed specially for Indian fleets, WABCO Diesel Exhaust Fluid is manufactured as per WABCO’s stringent quality guidelines and is available through WABCO’s pan-India service network with over 7,000 touch points across the country.
Vehicle connectivity
Connectivity draws attention to WABCO’s Fleet Management Solutions (FMS) that is making waves in the Indian market. WABCO’s FMS offers innovative solutions that have been designed and validated to global standards with customizations to meet the requirements of local fleets. The solution is AIS 140 compliant with J1939 CAN certification and offers a host of value-added features including live vehicle tracking, fuel management, driver behavior monitoring, tyre pressure monitoring amongst others and also supports multiple sensor integration, including still camera, RFID and biometric sensor.
The FMS has been validated on Indian roads for over 5 lakh km by global and Indian OEMs and is gaining good acceptance as one of the most comprehensive, reliable and robust offerings among the hundreds of FMS solutions available in the market today.
Apart from the FMS solution, WABCO also offers fuel sensor, school bus apps, camera integration, remote diagnostics and data analytics as part of its offerings in the connectivity domain.