There are lots of things that can affect the price of a safety system. The main ones are: the number of areas on the vehicle that need protection, which areas you want to protect, what type of vehicle it is, and whether you’re using cameras, sensors, or both. Prices also vary depending on whether the systems are sold installed or supply only. Here we’ll look at supply only pricing.
Single Area of Protection: If you were only looking to protect one particular problem area of your vehicle, this could be done from as little as around £195 using a sensor system, or around £250 if using a conventional camera with a monitor in the cab. This does of course depend on which area you’re looking to protect, as the further away from the front you get, the more additional wiring is needed to send the signal back again.
Standard Camera Coverage: One of the most common options operators buy for their vehicles is a three-camera system. This consists of a forward-facing camera, a near-side camera and an off-side camera, along with a monitor in the cab displaying these in split screen and a DVR to record the footage. Typically this set-up would cost somewhere around £1,200.
All Round Coverage: For the cheapest way of achieving all round coverage, you would require 4 cameras fitted around the vehicle (forward facing, near side, off side, rear) and a monitor capable of receiving 4 inputs and displaying these in quad split screen. Typically this set-up would cost somewhere around £1,300. Dedicated bird’s eye 360⁰ camera systems do exist, which display all 4 images combined into a single birds eye image, but these can be upwards of £2,500.
Full Coverage: For coverage to be truly comprehensive, it needs to include front corner and rear sensors to work in tandem with the camera systems. A comprehensive package like this usually costs somewhere around £1,900, though this of course depends on whether the truck is an artic or rigid. Equipment to protect the trailer of an artic immediately becomes more expensive due to the nature of the vehicle.
DVS/FORS Coverage: Operators often install safety systems to their vehicles to meet certain standards, such as the DVS and FORS. These usually involve equipment or technologies that adhere to certain specifications, such as AI cameras, meaning the prices can vary quite wildly. Whereas a standard FORS system can cost somewhere around £800, a standard DVS system using AI cameras would be anything from around £1,200 to £2,500, depending on the type of vehicle and specification.
It is important to remember that these prices are for supply only; where installation is needed, costs can increase quite substantially and also vary significantly depending on the type of technologies used, such as Wi-Fi, X-Wire, or Bluetooth.