Bendix Divests SafetyDirect® System And Operations To Rand McNally Following Teleo Capital Purchase

AVON, OH…  Bendix Commercial Vehicle Systems LLC (Bendix), a North American subsidiary of Knorr-Bremse, today announced that the company finalized the sale of its SafetyDirect® connectivity product line, portal, and operations to Chicago-based Rand McNally, a TELEO Capital Management, LLC (“TELEO”) portfolio company. 

Effective immediately, SafetyDirect team members who have accepted an offer of employment from Rand McNally will become employees of that organization. The transition involves approximately 42 employees at Bendix’s Irvine, California-based Development Center; select staff at the company’s Avon headquarters; and the remote SafetyDirect technical sales and product team.

The sale has no impact on the robust existing portfolio of Bendix braking, steering, and advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS). Rand McNally will continue to offer SafetyDirect and its integration with Bendix ADAS and brake

Bendix will provide marketing, data, and product integration support to Rand McNally, helping to enable a cohesive, coordinated approach for optimized customer solutions. To foster continued alignment between the organizations, Bendix will receive an equity stake (ownership position) in Rand McNally/SafetyDirect operations and hold an observer seat on the Rand McNally Board of Directors.

SafetyDirect® provides fleet operators with comprehensive feedback on their fleet and drivers, along with videos of severe events. Using data from Bendix advanced driver assistance systems, including Bendix® Wingman® Fusion™ and the Bendix® ESP® Electronic Stability Program full-stability system, SafetyDirect gives fleets key insights into common driving behaviors and trends across their operations. Safety system data is wirelessly transmitted off the vehicle to the SafetyDirect back-office servers that populate the secure web portal. The encrypted and password-protected portal is the source where each fleet can access their driver performance information and event-based data – video, vehicle, and sensor information from a vehicle’s J1939 network – equipping them with additional inputs aimed at helping enhance their safety program.

The divestiture reinforces Bendix’s continued desire for increased focus on its core competencies – in particular, the always-expanding braking and ADAS product portfolios.

“Delivering value to our customers is at the core of all we do and the driver behind this action,” said Piotr Sroka, president, CEO, and chief operating officer at Bendix. “Connectivity and data access are essential parts of Bendix’s strategy for our evolving ADAS solutions suite. The sale supports our desire to deliver enhanced functionality and more rapid and robust technology advancement under a partner well equipped to deliver on that need.”

“The combined expertise of Rand McNally and SafetyDirect will result in an expanded catalog of offerings that cater to the diverse needs of the trucking industry and other companies that own or operate vehicle fleets,” said Kevin Hatch, president at Rand McNally. “The acquisition will enable Rand McNally to deliver enhanced innovations in real-time monitoring and driver alerts, predictive maintenance, fleetwide management, and compliance management, among other critical fleet operations.”

Bendix, the North American leader in the development and manufacture of active safety, air management, and braking system technologies for commercial vehicles, acquired the SafetyDirect system and operations in August 2011. 

Effective with today’s sale close, Bendix and Rand McNally will begin a detailed, phased shift of operations and systems. The full changeover is expected to be completed over a period of up to one year.

While it will initially be business as usual, our transition goal is to help mitigate and minimize upfront risks, establish and maintain momentum, and complete an intelligent transfer with nominal impact to our customers and our suppliers,” said Nicole Oreskovic, Bendix vice president of sales and marketing. “The SafetyDirect solution and the Rand McNally platform will remain independent during a technology integration period to meet customer and market needs.”

Oreskovic added, “Today’s commercial vehicles generate massive amounts of valuable data that fleets can use to shape their driver training programs and operate more safely. The go-forward combination of an enhanced SafetyDirect® platform and its ability to integrate with the BendixADAS product suite – including the Bendix® Wingman® Fusion™ family and Bendix® ESP® full-stability system – will be a dynamic and powerful tool to help them succeed.”