For more information about towing and trailering with your Sierra pickup truck visit: http://www.gmc.com/sierra-1500-pickup...
3/30/15
GMC Sierra Pickup Truck | Trailer Brake Controller
For more information about towing and trailering with your Sierra pickup truck visit: http://www.gmc.com/sierra-1500-pickup...
3/28/15
Adrian Interiors at the 2015 NTEA Work Truck Show
The 2015 NTEA Work Truck Show was a huge success! Thank you to all who stopped by the Adrian Steel booth to talk with us and see the new vehicles and products!
3/26/15
2015 Savana Full Size Cargo Van
Savana comes with the most powertrain options of any full-size van, backed by a 5-year/100,000-mile transferrable powertrain limited warranty.2 Savana also offers StabiliTrak® to help you stay in control while driving.
TOW/HAUL MODE
Tow/haul mode provides a dual-mode shift program that lets you hold gears longer, giving you more torque and providing a smooth transition between gears when climbing hills.- Reduces excess shifting
- Allows you to select desired gears with manual range selection
- Enables activation of automatic grade braking
- Comes with 6-speed automatic transmission
3/24/15
A Day in the Life - W.J. Scott Company
To make a family business last from generation to generation, families pass down the best ethics and practices to keep their businesses the most successful that they can be. This is one thing that The Knapheide Manufacturing Company and W.J. Scott Company have in common.
Watch this video to find out why Matt and James Scott continue to choose Knapheide KUVs for their business for the fourth time in their company's history.
3/22/15
Head’s up! Clean Displays Help Keep Drivers Informed
Keeping eyes on the road
aided by colorful, simplified HUD systems
DETROIT – In the days of wearable technology that connects you to the world
around you, the automotive head-up display, or HUD, is a seasoned veteran.
General Motors pioneered the system decades ago, yet its design teams continue
to refine both appearance and functionality to help reduce driver distraction.
“We know that
keeping eyes on the road is critical to safe driving – and recent studies back
this up,” said Jeff Boyer, vice president
of GM Global Vehicle Safety. “Head-up displays
can play an important role in maximizing ‘eyes-on-the-road’ time, and that’s
what we’re striving for.”
The Virginia
Tech Transportation Institute’s 100-car Naturalist study showed that the odds
of a crash or near-crash more than doubled when a driver’s eyes were off the
road ahead for more than two seconds. In 2013, the National Highway
Traffic Safety Administration released a study that concluded that visual and
manual distractions – such as dialing or texting on a handheld phone –
increased between two and three times the risk of getting into a crash.
By projecting
pertinent information onto the windshield and into the driver’s line of sight,
head-up display systems allow drivers to keep their eyes on the road ahead
instead of glancing at gauge clusters, infotainment screens and other devices.
GM research shows drivers can spend 134 milliseconds shifting their gaze to a
gauge cluster and back to the road. At 70 mph, a vehicle can travel 13 feet in
that time, roughly the average length of a passenger car.
There’s far more work involved with developing HUD systems than just creating hardware: careful attention is paid to how the display looks and how it interacts with both the driver and other systems within the car.
“We have to make smart decisions about what content goes into the HUD,” said John Weiss, an interaction designer for HUD systems, “and how we can then present it to the driver in a manner that’s easy to read and intuitive to use.”
Simplified Screens
Today’s head-up displays, offered on more than 30 percent of GM vehicles sold in North America, can provide far more information than the first production system introduced on the 1988 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme. To reduce clutter, drivers can select from screens that focus on navigation, audio information, a tachometer, or simply a speedometer.
“The HUD screens are tailored to the driver,” said graphic designer William Thompson. “We do lots of prototyping, where we mock up different arrangements or graphics and get feedback from users.”
Fine Lines and Fonts
Compared to a gauge cluster or infotainment touchscreen, the head-up display space is constrained, forcing designers to work within a limited space. Designers inherently “think small,” but legibility restricts how far elements can be downsized. Icons are simplified, and lines must be at least four pixels wide. Fonts typically considered “grotesque,” – meaning letters are distinct and discrete from one another – are used.
There’s far more work involved with developing HUD systems than just creating hardware: careful attention is paid to how the display looks and how it interacts with both the driver and other systems within the car.
“We have to make smart decisions about what content goes into the HUD,” said John Weiss, an interaction designer for HUD systems, “and how we can then present it to the driver in a manner that’s easy to read and intuitive to use.”
Simplified Screens
Today’s head-up displays, offered on more than 30 percent of GM vehicles sold in North America, can provide far more information than the first production system introduced on the 1988 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme. To reduce clutter, drivers can select from screens that focus on navigation, audio information, a tachometer, or simply a speedometer.
“The HUD screens are tailored to the driver,” said graphic designer William Thompson. “We do lots of prototyping, where we mock up different arrangements or graphics and get feedback from users.”
Fine Lines and Fonts
Compared to a gauge cluster or infotainment touchscreen, the head-up display space is constrained, forcing designers to work within a limited space. Designers inherently “think small,” but legibility restricts how far elements can be downsized. Icons are simplified, and lines must be at least four pixels wide. Fonts typically considered “grotesque,” – meaning letters are distinct and discrete from one another – are used.
Choosing the Right Colors
The use of a
full-color screen allows designers more flexibility in selecting what colors to
project. Each hue in the display is carefully selected to ensure it projects
well and appeals to the driver.
Real-world testing helped the design team finalize color selections. White – the brightest color in the liquid crystal display, or LCD – is used for most fonts and displays. Winter testing helped find a hue that didn’t disappear against a snowy background. “We’ve done quite a bit of legwork to see what colors work best on the road,” said Weiss. “Some colors might look good when viewed on a computer screen but appear quite different when projected on a windshield.”
Real-world testing helped the design team finalize color selections. White – the brightest color in the liquid crystal display, or LCD – is used for most fonts and displays. Winter testing helped find a hue that didn’t disappear against a snowy background. “We’ve done quite a bit of legwork to see what colors work best on the road,” said Weiss. “Some colors might look good when viewed on a computer screen but appear quite different when projected on a windshield.”
Simple Controls
Although the head-up display duplicates information shown elsewhere on the instrument panel, it doesn’t require a second set of controls. “You might have an incoming call notification pop up on both the gauge cluster’s driver information center and the head-up display,” says Weiss, “but you don’t have to dismiss each one separately. We make sure the control interface on the steering wheel can interact with both displays.”
In order to further reduce complication, HUD-specific controls largely focus on adjusting the screen’s height and brightness to the driver’s liking.
Although the head-up display duplicates information shown elsewhere on the instrument panel, it doesn’t require a second set of controls. “You might have an incoming call notification pop up on both the gauge cluster’s driver information center and the head-up display,” says Weiss, “but you don’t have to dismiss each one separately. We make sure the control interface on the steering wheel can interact with both displays.”
In order to further reduce complication, HUD-specific controls largely focus on adjusting the screen’s height and brightness to the driver’s liking.
General Motors Co.
(NYSE:GM, TSX: GMM) and its partners produce vehicles in 30 countries, and the
company has leadership positions in the world's largest and fastest-growing
automotive markets. GM, its subsidiaries and joint venture entities sell
vehicles under the Chevrolet, Cadillac, Baojun, Buick, GMC, Holden, Jiefang,
Opel, Vauxhall and Wuling brands. More information on the company and its
subsidiaries, including OnStar, a global leader in vehicle safety, security and
information services, can be found at http://www.gm.com
3/20/15
GMC Sierra Pickup Truck | Exhaust Brake
For more information about towing and trailering with your Sierra pickup truck visit: http://www.gmc.com/sierra-1500-pickup...
3/18/15
Aluminum Work Truck Bodies
Aluminum bodies are becoming more mainstream. Though they have been around for decades, they have been hard to find and very expensive. A number of companies have made a commitment to building more aluminum bodies to help increase fuel economy and increase payload capacity. As a result, the cost of aluminum bodies has dropped significantly and now they are affordable for most customers. Lighter weight serves everyone and aluminum is light weight and yet retains its well-known strength.
Choose from a wide selection of aluminum Flatbeds, Stakebeds, Service Bodies, Contractor Bodies and Aluminum Dump Beds from manufacturers like Reading, ProTech, Highway Products, and many more every day.
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