3M Discontinues Commercialization of Lane Awareness System for Snow Removal Operations
IVsource.net
26 December 2000

3M bows out, leaving the commercialization of lane awareness systems dangling in the winter breezes ... 3M's announcement is provided in this article, along with a brief IVsource commentary.

“The market for magnetic guidance has developed more slowly than we had anticipated,” said Mike Roman, director, 3M Intelligent Transportation Systems.  “We will focus our resources on exploring other emerging transportation technologies for future product development opportunities.”

The system is used to make snow plow operators aware of their vehicle’s lane position at times when blowing and drifting snow hides all other visual clues.  Another promising application for the technology was in providing pedestrian guidance to address the needs of low vision individuals.  3M will continue to provide technical service and product support for all current customers and contracts, which includes the federal Intelligent Vehicle Initiative (IVI).

3M had also been in discussions with bus transit operators about providing automatic guidance systems for precision docking applications.

The company has a long history in the transportation industry and is the leading producer of transportation solutions, including retroreflective products and systems serving the traffic safety, traffic management, vehicle registration, and commercial transportation markets.  3M’s research and development projects, along with commercialized product lines, provide a broad transportation portfolio for the marketplace.

IVsource commentary:

Truly, this is a setback to the IV community.  From various discussions IVsource has held with public agencies and others, it is apparent that a viable business does exist for Lane Awareness Systems -- certainly for snowplow guidance and very probably for transit and other applications.  State maintenance departments in Alaska, Arizona, Michigan, and Pennsylvania have been moving to implement such systems, in addition to the pioneers in California and Minnesota.  The situation in which 3M finds itself is simply a consequence of recognizing priorities -- Lane Awareness does not offer the payoff, at the right pace, when compared to other, more profitable products in the company's portfolio.

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