FIRST TAKE


Technology Evolution in an Era of the Lowest Bid


WRITTEN BY RYAN GRAY | RYAN@STNONLINE.COM A


n industry expert recently described with wonder all the accoutrements of his new 2017 SUV. In addition to blind-spot detector lights on both side mirrors, the


vehicle is equipped with a rear back-up camera and a forward-facing camera to guide him while pulling forward into a parking space. Te SUV also offers parking assist, lane departure warnings and auto-correct functionality, a vibrating steering wheel and even an illuminated coffee cup on the dash when the vehicle gauges he is getting drowsy. Another student transporter has similar safety solu- tions in his 2017 truck. He told me how the driver seat vibrates if he starts to change lanes without using the turn signal. When a windshield sensor determines that his eyes are not focused on the road for a certain amount of time, a dashboard display flashes red and an audible beep sounds to ensure he’s not falling asleep. Just imagine some of these features as standard, optional even, on model-year 2025 school buses. Tat’s the date that NHTSA eyes for highway autopilot technology to be equipped in newly manufactured passenger vehicles. Last month, the feds released the next round of voluntary guidelines for fast tracking advanced driver assistance (ADAS) technologies, namely to provide more direction to legislators, state public safety officials, vehicle manufacturers and technology providers for fast-tracking the technology. Of course, as my conversations last month


proved—not to mention the countless television commercials bragging about the latest crash avoidance and mitigation technologies—ADAS technology is already here. Vehicles are already passing the test stages of communicating with each other and highway infrastructure, as well as detecting just about everything else on the road. After all, airplanes have had some variation of auto-pilot technology for over 100 years, so it’s completely foreseeable for vehicles to finally catch up in seven short years. But while crash avoidance technology is quickly be- coming commonplace in our passenger vehicles, what’s the path for school buses? Inevitably, as history tells us,


12 School Transportation News • OCTOBER 2017


this industry’s yellow vehicles will be among the last to adopt these safety advances. Many school districts nationwide continue to struggle with replacing aging buses with brand new ones that can cost $105,000 or more. And these are often just the base models. Will OEMs proactively and voluntarily add the technology to the buses without a mandate to do so, as many in the passenger vehicle industry did? Blue Bird and then Tomas Built Buses made electronic stability control options available despite school buses being exempt from federal standards. Inevitably, student transporters will forego options they deem unnecessary and, more importantly, costly unless costs are negated. One question to ask is the role liability reduction might play in advancing these technologies. Is there an opportunity for insurance companies to increase their partnerships with the OEMs to make these risk miti- gation tools more widely available and cost effective? And even if they did, how long might adoption take considering 12- to 15-year replacement cycles? Is it the role of school bus specification committees to raise the standard of bus bids for school districts, or should local operations be taking the reins to go beyond minimum standards of safety and ask more of their vendors? Te OEMs would surely meet the demand. Or will price sensitivity continue to rule the day? Te bottom line is, when the lowest bid is the prevail- ing factor for awarding business, what’s the motivation to provide the latest and greatest safety solutions? And what’s the potential effect on the best safety record for delivering students to and from school? For the industry to truly convince parents that school buses are the safest option for their children, it must put its money where its mouth is and figure out how to foot the bill. And the answer may lie in the very technology being considered. Tese are important questions to ponder as you slip behind the wheel of your late-model car, the computer lady navigates you to the coffee shop and the car automatically parks itself once you get there. 


Ryan Gray, Editor-in-Chief


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