That’s a Wrap on FPCX 2022 in Austin!

The inaugural Fleet Patrol Conference and Expo in Austin, Texas last week left us exhausted, in a good way! We wanted to take a moment and share some of the many highlights with you. From our new products, standout booth and immersive DVI™ experience, to our Mach-E and GTT vehicle safety gateway demonstration, we felt the enthusiasm from those in attendance and fielded a ton of questions too! Whelen’s presence at the conference wasn’t limited to our booth however, as we saw many vehicles outfitted with Whelen products at other vendor booths including Chevy, Dodge and Ford. Read on for all the highlights from the week!

The week kicked off with the immersive DriveX event at the Circuit of the Americas track (CoTA) on Monday. One of the highlights for us was seeing the faces of attendees as we demonstrated vehicle-to-vehicle synchronization using the three vehicles we brought to the event. And from the feedback we received, eyes were opened to the positive impact this technology has on officer safety.

A special thanks goes to our Authorized Managing Sales Representative (AMSR) John Wright Associates, Inc. for bringing their demo SUV to the DriveX event. Check out the video below to catch a little of the action at the track.

Following the DriveX event on Monday, we were thrilled to see so many familiar faces for Whelen Night at Speakeasy Austin. We thoroughly enjoyed catching up with old friends and meeting new ones too.  From Whelen factory reps and AMSRs, to distributors, suppliers, and end-users the place was packed, and many stayed until the doors closed. It was a great event, and we are already planning the next one!

When the Expo officially kicked off on Wednesday, August 17th, we were thrilled to unveil our latest innovations including our newest control system, Core-S™, and the Edge® 9X lightbar series. Core-S has an all-new space-saving design that can be installed in a console, under a vehicle’s dash, and other tight spaces. It features siren, input/output, and control functionality in one compact box along with an integrated control head. Many AMSR’s and end-users told us they were happy to see an “all-in-one” solution that will fit in the console.

The Edge 9X lightbar series unveiled at FPCX celebrates our long history of providing innovative, lifesaving equipment to the emergency warning industry. The Edge 9X is designed for durability, competitively priced, and highly configurable for a wide range of applications. Visitors to the booth were excited to see these new lightbars, and our AMSRs were equally excited to add the Edge 9X series to their product offerings!

At FPCX we also demonstrated the integration between the Whelen Cloud Platform® and Global Traffic Technology’s traffic preemption technology. Whelen’s Director of Sales & Operational Planning, Matt Herman, said it was rewarding to watch customers experience the live demo. “They were blown away by the fact that we had a fully functional traffic light in our booth that was fully integrated into our Ford Mustang Mach E, allowing them to experience how this would work in the field,” he said.

The buzz at our booth grew even further with the announcement that Collision Prevention and Digital Alerts features powered by HAAS Alert’s Safety Cloud® will be launched on the Whelen Cloud Platform later this year. The new integration will bring cutting-edge vehicle-to-vehicle communication to thousands of law enforcement and public safety vehicles in the field nationwide, providing a new layer of lifesaving protection for first responders and roadside workers.

From all accounts the biggest takeaway from FPCX was the overwhelmingly positive reaction to our immersive “dome” experience. Our nighttime emergency scene experience gave many the opportunity to see Dynamic Variable Intensity™ (DVI) light patterns in a realistic setting for the first time. In fact, several told us that they ‘did not believe in DVI patterns’ until going through our dome experience. Whelen’s Director of Auto Sales, Eric Maurice said, “Many told me that they were impressed with the dome experience as it created a true scene, and that we hit the mark on demonstrating how Whelen continues to be at the forefront of creating scene safety.”

Take a peek at the video below to experience it for yourself!

And those were just some of the highlights from FPCX 2022! If you weren’t at the show or want to revisit what you saw in our booth, you can learn more about our newest innovations and other product offerings, including police lighting packages for a variety of vehicles, on our FPCX microsite. And see below for more pictures from the conference!

We are so thankful to everyone who came out to the show and joined us for a great week in Austin. We are already looking forward to FPCX 2023!