ANN ARBOR, Mich. — One of the largest LTL carriers in the world has just bought 1,300 brand new Freightliner Cascadias, ponying up about $100 million for them.

And man are they belled-and whistled.

Con-way Freight made the humungous purchase on the heels of an elaborate 10-month study designed to measure whether new crash-warning technologies work or not.

The results were so positive that when Con-way bought their new iron, they agreed to pay the extra $5 million that the technology would cost.

The study was done in partnership with the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute (UMTRI); and the results were made available as a new report entitled: The Integrated Vehicle-Based Safety Systems Heavy-Truck Field Operational Test.

Con-way supplied 10 trucks equipped with Integrated Vehicle-Based Safety System (IVBSS) technology.

The tractors came with an integrated suite of "detect, alert and respond" systems which provide for rollover stability, front-collision warning with radar-based adaptive cruise control, and lane-departure warning.

On-board data-acquisition systems recorded driver actions and responses to the integrated warning system.

Eighteen Con-way drivers ran their usual routes out of the company’s Detroit service center logging 601,844 miles over 22,724 trips; producing 13,678 hours of data.

UMTRI researchers then analyzed the data to study the effect that the integrated warning system had on driver acceptance and changes in driver behavior.

The drivers overwhelmingly said that they liked trucks that told them when lane changes were safe and when they were following too closely, among other things.

According to a statement from the university, key findings include:

The majority of drivers perceived that the integrated crash-warning system would increase driver safety, and made them more aware of the traffic environment

Seven drivers reported the integrated system prevented them from potentially having a crash;

Fifteen out of 18 drivers said they prefer such a truck.

In terms of satisfaction, drivers rated warnings for lane departures the highest.

The integrated crash warning system had a statistically significant effect helping drivers maintain lane positions closer to the center

Overall, drivers responded more quickly to potential rear-end crash scenarios with the system.

Additional program partners for the IVBSS commercial-truck research include Eaton Corp., Takata, and International Truck and Engine.