TECHNOLOGY - April 26, 1994

Road Smarts: Rockwell International Corp., the technology giant based in Seal Beach, plans to spend more than $25 million in research and development this year to help create products and applications for so-called smart cars and smart highways.

Among Rockwell’s projects unveiled last week are a traffic sensor aimed at measuring traffic flow, a vehicle locating system that helps monitor the whereabouts of a fleet of trucks or other vehicles and a navigation system for passenger cars.

Kent Black, chief operating officer, said Rockwell is combining its expertise in electronics, military systems and automotive components to build better roads, cars and trucks.

For instance, Rockwell’s TrafficCam, which uses machine vision technology, is a traffic sensor that could be mounted on a post and used to replace loop detectors, which are buried in the pavement.