Bomag, a Fayat Group brand, has confirmed that its heavy tandem vibratory rollers - including the BW 174 AP-5 series and larger models - will be equipped from the factory with the "Emergency Brake Assist" safety system developed in partnership with sensor specialist SICK. The system addresses a specific and persistent hazard in asphalt compaction: the operator's view of the ground immediately in front of and behind a tandem roller is partially obstructed by the drum itself, and reverse-travel backing incidents have historically accounted for a significant share of struck-by fatalities on paving crews
The Emergency Brake Assist package integrates a "SICK Radar-Based Object Detection Sensor" mounted at the front and rear of the roller's frame. The radar scans the machine's travel path at 50 hertz, detecting objects - including pedestrians, other equipment, and fixed obstacles - within a configurable warning envelope that extends roughly 8 meters in the direction of travel. When the radar detects an object in the warning envelope, the system first issues an in-cab alert to the operator. If the operator does not respond and the object continues to approach, the system escalates to "Emergency Brake Assist" - automatically engaging the roller's hydrostatic braking system to bring the machine to a controlled stop before contact occurs.
In parallel, Bomag has consolidated the BW 174 AP-5 series as its pivot-steered tandem roller flagship, offering a 2.13-meter drum width, split-drum configuration for offset compaction against curbs and structures, and a rotating/sliding operator seat with 270-degree rotation that allows the operator to face forward for forward travel and rearward for reverse - dramatically improving visibility during the back-and-forth compaction pattern that defines asphalt paving. The machine offers five steering modes - front-wheel steer, rear-wheel steer, crab steer, coordinated steer, and pivot steer - allowing the operator to match the machine's kinematics to the specific compaction task, whether that is hugging a curb line with pivot steer or working in tight intersections with coordinated crab. Combined with the Bomag ECONOMIZER system that measures asphalt stiffness in real time and displays a compaction map to the operator, the BW 174 AP-5 series positions itself as a productivity and safety flagship in the 5-to-7-ton tandem roller segment.
