Hughes Unit Will Install Devices for Federal ‘Intelligent’ Highway System

FULLERTON — A unit of GM Hughes Electronics Corp. said Wednesday that it has won a $2-million contract from the Federal Highway Administration to install electronic devices that will allow trucks to bypass weigh stations.

Hughes will install the devices on trucks as part of a federal system of “intelligent” highways. The devices communicate information about the truck and its weight to electronic “readers” near weigh stations. That way the truck doesn’t have to pull over and be weighed.

The system will be used on Interstate 75 and a linked Canadian highway that together stretch 2,000 miles from Ontario Province through Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia and Florida--one of the most heavily traveled truck routes in North America.