PrePass Goes Mobile With Portable Weigh Station

October 27, 1999 10:34 AM, EDT

ARLINGTON, Va. — The technology that lets truckers bypass weigh stations automatically is hitting the road with portable scales.

	Jeff Agnew, Blakey and Associates
	Chris Nolan of Estes Express Lines says transponder-based clearance systems like the newly introduced Prepass mobile unit save truckers time when they can bypass weigh scales.

The makers of the PrePass vehicle identification system last week unveiled a mobile weighing unit that is compatible with PrePass transponders and that state agencies can set up anytime, anywhere. HELP Inc., the industry-government board that oversees PrePass, launched the new product Oct. 19 at a symposium on commercial vehicle transportation technology.

At the same time, discussions during the meeting could not resolve long-standing data privacy concerns trucking has had about pre-clearance technology, but a partial solution to compatibility issues between PrePass and a rival system may be near for truckers who want to use a single bypass technology nationwide.

The portable weigh-in-motion scales unit, produced by Lockheed Martin IMS, HELP Inc.’s private contractor, is a computer-packed trailer hauled by an equally high-tech van. It will go through final tests in Gilroy, Calif., on U.S. 101 in early November, and the system will be debuted in Nevada by December.

For the full story, see the Oct. 25 print edition of Transport Topics. Subscribe today.