Partially Self-Driving Truck Tested in Illinois While Policymakers Draft Autonomous Vehicles Bill

January 20, 2020 by Levinson and Stefani Leave a Comment

Technology company Autobon AI is now testing its partially autonomous truck in regular traffic on the Jane Addams Tollway.

After successful tests by the Lisle, Illinois company’s co-founder, Krystian Gebis, on the Chicagoland Speedway track in Joliet, Autobon believes its innovative vehicle is ready for the main roadway. Still, a driver will stay behind the wheel.

“The driver still has full control,” said Gebis. “We want to make sure the truck isn’t weaving in the lane and it maintains a safe following distance. We want to make sure it’s very precisely driving.”

Transportation experts are saying tests like these will become more and more common in the near future, as trucks that are at least partially self-driving will hit the road in hopes of countering the current truck driver shortage in the freight industry.

The trucking industry is expected to be a top early implementer of autonomous technology for this very reason.

“There’s a significant shortage of drivers,” said director of the University of Illinois at Chicago’s Urban Transportation Center, P.S. Sriraj. “If you have a shortage of drivers, you have drivers working long hours and compromising their safety.”

According to Gebis, autonomous technology won’t be completely replacing truck drivers any time soon, but will provide an avenue for drivers to feel safer and at ease while on the road.

“You want to not have fatigue or stress be a factor in driving,” Gebis sad. “We are thinking of every possible way we can to make the job more enjoyable for drivers.”

However, how exactly these developments will come into play is still in question. Although autonomous driving tech engineers are staying busy, federal regulatory frameworks for automated vehicles is being drafted by transportation leaders as we speak.

Chairman Roger Wicker (R-Mississippi) confirmed in a hearing with safety agencies that the Senate Commerce Committee is currently collaborating with their House counterparts on the Energy and Commerce Committee to draft a new measure governing automated technology.

“As we continue to develop a regulatory framework, the discussion should also be driven by the potential benefits of [automated vehicles] to improve the country’s transportation systems,” said Wicker. “As technology continues to improve, AVs will be increasingly part of our daily lives. Therefore, it is up to us to ensure that the safety benefits of these vehicles are fully realized.”

Wicker also notes that without a national regulatory framework, other countries may have the opportunity to lead in the AV field.

Still, panel members stress that ensuring the safety of all roadway commuters is the top priority and is what will guide the legislative process this bill. Senators noted that over 36,000 people were killed in roadway crashes last year, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

“Over the past three years, more companies have been putting automated vehicles out on the road, and sometimes ending in fatal consequences,” said Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Washington). “In several of these accidents, the drivers were not paying attention to the roadway and [were] unable to intervene to avoid the crash. What we need to do is continue to learn from these lessons and make sure that we’re putting safeguards in place.”

One of the accidents to which Cantwell refers is 2018’s fatal accident involving Uber Technologies, Inc.’s developmental Automated Driving System and a pedestrian in Tempe, Arizona.

Autobon’s Gebis said he has many of his own family members working in the trucking industry, which is what led him to learn about crash-related issues. Because of this, he was able to combine his knowledge of trucking with his passion for robotics and start his company.

Now, Autobon AI has new technology that is able to replace a truck’s wind visor with one equipped with multidirectional cameras, sensors and GPS to aid the truck in responding to road conditions.

The truck’s steering wheel, accelerator, and brakes react to the incoming information from this equipment. The company also has an in-cab sun visor in the works that will have a camera to monitor drivers and make sure they aren’t distracted by fatigue or texting. Then, a remote control operator can check driver behavior and pull a truck over into an emergency lane if necessary.

According to Gebis, Autobon plans to sell this automated technology equipment for installation in trucks, as well as to sell the accompanying services, such as tools for delivery improvement and driver monitoring methods.

“We’re engaging with Autobon to develop a better understanding of emerging vehicle technologies and the way these advances could be used to increase safety on our roads,” said Jose Alvarez, Executive Director of the Illinois Tollway.

Chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board, Robert Sumwalt is wary of past ADS-related accidents, but acknowledges the potential for this technology to help decrease the number of crashes overall.

“A promise of the upcoming ADSes is that such systems will be safer than a human driver,” he said. “Until that promise is realized, the testing of developmental ADS–with all its expected failures and limitations–requires appropriate safeguards when conducted on public roads.”

A timeline for the measure to be put in place has not yet been announced.

A Look Back on the Biggest Trucking News of 2019

January 6, 2020 by Levinson and Stefani Leave a Comment

Throughout 2019, many changes and updates have been made across the trucking industry in the United States. Regulatory reforms, safety and inclusion efforts, and company bankruptcies took over trucking news–let’s reflect on the hottest topics in trucking in 2019.

January 24th–Trucker Arrested for Idaho Hemp Haul

Although Hemp is legal federally, it is still not legal in Idaho.When 36-year-old trucker Denis Palamarchuk hauled a load of hemp for Colorado company Big Sky Scientific, he ended up being arrested. Other similar arrests from the year prior in addition to Palamarchuk’s experience launched a long-awaited court battle with drivers pleading guilty to misdemeanors. Governor Brad Little pushed for an executive order regarding hemp transportation, but the issue still has yet to be fully resolved.

Because hemp and marijuana continue to be illegal in Idaho until the state Legislature decides otherwise, the governor’s order would still make proper transport of hemp extremely difficult, including mandating a stop at Idaho’s port of entry to declare the presence of hemp.

Failure to comply “may subject the transporter to the laws of prohibiting marijuana,” which can carry both civil and criminal penalties.

February 11th: New England Motor Freight Shuts Down Completely

NEMF, a less-than-truckload carrier in Elizabeth, New Jersey, announced its plans to seek Chapter 11 bankruptcy and finally shut down after more than 100 years in operation.

It was the largest LTL carrier to close its doors since CF Motor Freight in 2002.

“NEMF was burdened by several large underperforming contracts, including Amazon.com,” Said Armstrong & Associates president, Evan Armstrong. “It just shows if an account can’t stand on its own, more volume doesn’t help.”

February 21st: FMCSA Ends Driver Diabetes Exemption Program

The agency put a stop to its process of exemption for the medical certification of insulin-dependent truck and bus drivers. FMCSA claimed that the decision would end delays for those drivers to receive their exemptions; however, drivers still need a doctor’s approval to drive.

“FMCSA has determined, therefore, that an exemption program for [treated diabetics] is no longer necessary,” said the agency.

March to August: NTDC’s State and National Trucking Championships

In 2019, NTDC began its first national championships in March, which concluded on August 17th. Scott Woodrome of FedEx Freight became the first competitor in two decades to win two years in a row.

“Two in a row is a rare thing. These drivers out here are the best drivers in the nation,” said Woodrome. “They’re not just the best drivers, but they’re the best people, too. I really just wanted to come back as a competitor.”

There were nine classes of winners: 3-axle, 4-axle, 5-axle, flatbed, tank truck, twins, sleeper berth, straight truck, and step van.

July 11th: LME Shuts Doors

Minnesota-based carrier LME shut down immediately after laying off hundreds of workers without notice. Lakeview Motor Express, a company with the same owners, had shut down in a similar fashion in 2016.

It was unclear until October if LME employees would receive their payments.

“I feel sick to my stomach. How am I going to make my rent?” asked one worker. “My brother, who is dockworker, is owed about $2,400. LME should have learned their lesson after they pulled this…two years ago.”

August 14th: FMCSA’s Changes to Hours-of-Service Rules

A proposal to change the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s hours-of-service rules aimed to increase flexibility regarding drivers’ 30-minute rest breaks and allocated time in sleeper berths.

The proposal also worked to extend potential driver duty time by two hours when inclement weather was present, as well as to expand “short haul” exemptions from 12 to 14 hours on-duty.

However, many of those opposing the proposed regulation changes believe the extended duty time could increase driver fatigue and lead to more trucking accidents, thus doing more harm than good for the industry overall.

October 10th: Ray Martinez Resigns from FMCSA

Agency chief Ray Martinez announced his leave and that he would move from his post in the FMCSA to one overseeing reconstruction of Cambridge’s John A. Volpe National Transportation Systems Center.

Many considered Martinez a huge factor in various important conversations about hours-of-service rules, among many other issues in trucking.

November 25th: FMCSA Announces Plans to Delay ELDT Rule

The Entry Level Driver Training rule was in the works to take place February 7th; however, FMCSA announced it would be delaying the change for around two more years.

“There is a Federal Register notice forthcoming,” said a DOT official. “The whole thing is going to be delayed. It’s mostly due to the failure of the states aligning their systems with the federal system.”

December 9th: Celadon Declares Bankruptcy and Shuts Doors

Celadon announced it would be filing for bankruptcy and canceling all operations after years of legal and financial difficulties. The company had been working toward recovery after financial fraud allegations–to no avail.

“We have diligently explored all possible options to restructure Celadon and keep business operations ongoing, however, a number of legacy and market headwinds made this impossible to achieve,” said CEO Paul Svindland.

Artificial Intelligence Detects Distracted Driving Through In-Cab Monitors

January 6, 2020 by Levinson and Stefani Leave a Comment

Bison Transport is now testing new in-cab driver monitoring systems in order to detect distracted driving.

Seeing Machines Limited has earned a contract that will allow it to install its automated monitoring system into the fleet of one of Canada’s largest trucking companies.

Now, Bison Transport will have Seeing Machines’ Guardian technology implemented into 120 of its truck cabs. Bison employs around 2,500 truckers.

“Having Bison Transport as a customer affirms our view that fleets who have a culture of safety truly value Guardian as a way to improve that culture and keep their drivers safe,” said Dr. Mike Lenné, vice president of fleet and human factors for Seeing Machines.

As Bison has a “right to decide” policy for its drivers, the company originally tried equipping 14 of its trucks with the Guardian system in 2017, and is now expanding that testing to 120 trucks.

Garth Pitzel, Bison’s director of safety and driver development, said that in the first six weeks of testing, the fleet ran trucks with the monitoring on, but with vibration alerts and in-cab audio disabled. For the next six weeks, Bison had all the driver alerts activated.

After this period, the company saw a reduction of 67% in fatigued driving incidents, a reduction of 40% in distracted driving incidents, and a whopping 97% reduction in cellphone use (even though the company already has a hands-free cell phone policy in place).

Bison has been named North America’s safest fleet by the American Trucking Associations and the Truckload Carriers Association.

Seeing Machines’ driver monitor assesses a driver’s visual attention, their degree of drowsiness, and the possibility for risk with computer vision algorithms. To process a driver’s level of distraction or fatigue in real time, the monitor uses in-cabin sensors to track factors like eye movement and notify drivers with audio and vibration alerts.

If the in-cabin sensors detect any fatigue- or distraction-related event, analysts at the 24/7 Guardian monitoring center receive a video file. The footage is reviewed and analysts can immediately alert a fleet manager if one of these safety risks is confirmed.

Additionally, fleet managers can view flagged video clips at any time through the Guardian Live portal, but the system will only record video if it detects an issue.

Lenné and his team at Seeing Machines are hoping for more opportunities to further the company’s position throughout the continent.

“North America represents a massive opportunity for the Guardian technology, and the deal with Bison validates our revised approach with hardware pricing and service provision,” he said. “I look forward to seeing our team on this success as we rejuvenate our North American business and start to convert current conversations and interactions into Guardian contracts across this region.”

The Driveri system from technology supplier Netradyne detects distracted driving with object-detection methodology. The system analyzes a driver’s head movements in relation to body position, and when it measures what appears to be distracted driving, it notifies both the driver and fleet manager.

Adam Kahn, president of Netradyne’s fleet business, said Driveri analyzes everything from yawning to eye movement and gaze patterns in order to detect fatigue. Then, that information is processed in real-time on the device to allow for immediate communication with the driver.

Driveri also has a mobile app to let fleets easily address distracted driving with the driver.

Netradyne can also quickly identify both positive and risky behavior by using artificial intelligence, machine vision, and edge computing–a method that improves response time by bringing computation capacity closer to the location at which it is needed.

“Rather than selecting portions of the day and trying to determine the driver profile through happenstance, Driveri captures and analyzes every driving minute,” said Kahn.

However, the co-founder of Pronto.ai, a technology startup with similar monitoring technology, said these systems aren’t the overall solution to improving trucking safety.

“We cannot achieve the goal of safer roads by simply relying on driver monitoring technology alone to improve the effectiveness of existing technologies,” he said. “Instead, driver monitoring technology should be one part of a much broader culture of safety within a commercial fleet’s operations that involves rigorous coaching, training, and oversight by fleets of their drivers.”

Autopilot-Engaged Tesla Rear-Ends Police Car, Driver Assistance Tech Continues to Raise Concerns

December 21, 2019 by Levinson and Stefani Leave a Comment

A Tesla driving on autopilot has rear-ended a parked police car in Connecticut, once again bringing alarmed responses regarding the automated technology.

The carmaker’s driver-assistance system, named ‘Autopilot,’ was operating a Tesla Model 3 sedan when it hit a parked police cruiser around 12:40 a.m. on December 7th. The highway-patrol vehicle was stopped with its hazard lights flashing on a major highway outside of Norwalk, Connecticut when the officer was working to assist a disabled SUV.

The driver of the Tesla said he was checking on his dog in the backseat when his vehicle rear-ended the cruiser. He told police the Tesla Model 3’s Autopilot feature had been activated and that he was not facing forward at the time of the accident.

The Model 3 also continued on to collide with the bumper of the disabled Jeep, which the officer was assisting. The rear end of the police cruiser, along with the front end of the Tesla, both sustained “heavy” damage.

The driver was issued a misdemeanor for reckless endangerment and reckless driving, but luckily, no one was injured.

“When operating a vehicle, your full attention is required at all times to ensure safe driving,” said a Facebook post by Connecticut State Police. “Although a number of vehicles have some automated capabilities, there are no vehicles currently for sale that are fully automated or self-driving.”

Tesla’s Autopilot system allows its vehicles to accelerate, steer, and brake automatically while changing lanes or staying within a single lane. Still, the feature needs “active driver supervision,” according to Tesla’s website.

The Saturday morning incident has increased current concerns that Tesla is not working efficiently toward increasing safe usage of the Autopilot feature. Although the company’s vehicle user manuals urge drivers to stay attentive and keep their hands on the steering wheel at all times, Elon Musk himself has often retweeted video clips of hands-free Autopilot driving.

Some Tesla drivers haven even posted videos of drivers appearing asleep at the wheel while Autopilot is in use.

This isn’t the first time Tesla’s Autopilot has been part of a major crash. In three past fatal crashes, including a 2018 deadly crash in Delray Beach, Florida (also with a Model 3), Autopilot was engaged. However, the National Transportation Safety Board is still investigating how much Autopilot actually contributed to that particular crash.

Additionally, another crash last year took place on a Southern California highway when a Tesla Model S ran into the back of a fire truck. Although this crash didn’t cause any injuries, it triggered another U.S. National Transportation Safety Board investigation, raising questions regarding the limitations of driver-assist technology such as this, which often fails to detect stationary objects.

It seems this particular issue has been a problem for some time now, without much improvement. We reported back in 2018 that although semi-automated control in vehicles is meant to protect drivers from risky situations on the road, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety had released a “Reality Check,” which warned drivers that “cars and trucks with electronic driver assist systems may not see stopped vehicles and could even steer you into a crash if you’re not paying attention.”

This August 2018 warning came after five different systems from Tesla, BMW, Volvo and Mercedes had been tested on both tracks and public roads. During this testing, the highway safety institute found that when testing automatic braking, Tesla’s system in both the Model S and Model 3 were the most dangerous–they were the only models that did not stop in time when tested on a track.

Still, Tesla continues to release its quarterly reports indicating that any driver using Autopilot is safer than one operating without it. Tesla also claims that this driving system reminds drivers that they are always responsible for staying attentive on the road, and that the system prohibits Autopilot use when safety warnings are ignored.

Clearly, this technology still has is limits, and drivers must always keep in mind that any system along the lines of “autopilot” is not self-driving, but is there to assist drivers with their control of the vehicle.

Are Trucking Companies Doing Enough to Train Their Drivers?

December 20, 2019 by Levinson and Stefani Leave a Comment

A Commercial Driver’s License (CDL) is required if a person is operating 1) a vehicle or combination of vehicles with a gross weight over 10,000 lbs.; or 2) a vehicle designed to transport 16 or more people. Trucking companies or transportation companies (motor carriers) employing such drivers must make sure their drivers are qualified. And that makes sense, right? We want large vehicles (tractor-trailers often weigh up to 80,000 lbs.) and buses to be operated safely on our roadways. But beyond making sure their drivers have valid CDLs, should motor carriers be doing anything else?

Ken recently spoke to a group of fellow trucking safety lawyers on just that topic: Motor Carrier Duties to Train Drivers.

Beyond ensuring its drivers have valid CDLs, a motor carrier must show “it has adequate safety management controls in place” to reduce the risks associated with “Improper use and driving of motor vehicles,” “Unsafe vehicles operating on the highways,” and other dangers to the public.

The key to those safety rules, though, is “adequate.” Does that make you feel safe knowing all those trucks and buses on the highways and streets are “adequate” in terms of being safe? Those regulations are merely a baseline for safety — the bare minimum a motor carrier needs to meet to put massive vehicles out on the public way.

Thankfully, there are many trucking companies that meet those requirements and then exceed them by instituting rigorous driver training programs. Smart, safe, responsible motor carriers provide their professional drivers the education and tools needed to reduce the risk and number of crashes. Moreover, they create and enforce their own additional rules — often contained in a company driver manual — and systematically check whether their drivers are following the rules.

Speaking from experience, Ken discussed the numerous small, “mom-and-pop” motor carriers that ignore the “extra” safety measures because they believe meeting the bare minimum requirements is enough. He and Jay have taken the deposition of numerous motor carrier Safety Directors over the years. Some of those people discuss the importance of doing more than what’s required, while others are content to just squeak by. Which motor carriers do you think are less likely to have trucks and drivers causing crashes?

Bill to Test Hair Samples of Transportation Employees for Drug Use Advances

December 20, 2019 by Levinson and Stefani Leave a Comment

New legislation, introduced by U.S. Senator Roger Wicker (R-Mississippi), will require the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to explain why its proposed regulations regarding mandatory hair testing for drugs in the transportation industry have yet to be determined.

Wicker introduced the Preventing Opioid and Drug Impairment in Transportation Act on December 4th, a bill which would require the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to submit a report to the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives detailing the reasons why HHS hasn’t yet submitted technical guidelines for testing hair to OMB.

The guidelines are more than two years overdue, and are required in a timely manner under the 2015 Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act highway law.

On December 11th, a U.S. Senate panel advanced the legislation seeking to improve drug testing for transportation workers.

The bill’s provisions will cover truck drivers, Amtrak conductors, and pipeline operators with an effort of reducing impairment on the job within freight and commuter corridors.

“Drug and alcohol use can impair drivers’ and transportation employees’ abilities to do their jobs safely,” said Wicker. “My legislation would help protect the public from these risks by requiring the Department of Transportation to strengthen drug and alcohol testing, research, and programs for drivers and those in safety-sensitive jobs.”

The bill requires both agencies to provide an estimated date on which the guidelines will be put into place within 60 days of enactment.

According to the bill, the report would have to detail “considerations related to eliminating positive test results caused solely by the drug use of others and not caused by the drug use of the individual being tested; and estimate the date by which such guidelines will be completed.”

The proposed federal regulation allowing motor carriers to conduct drug tests for their drivers and potential employees by hair sample is under review at OMB.

“I’d like to believe, if passed, that this language would be effective,” said Dave Osiecki, president and CEO of Scopelitis Transportation Consulting. “However, past congressional pressure on HHS has not resulted in accelerated action on the guidelines, and this language is likely to meet the same fate. A more effective approach might be for Congress to withhold some funding if HHS does not act expeditiously.”

Also under the bill, the U.S. Department of Transportation would need to determine whether it will require Amtrak engineers and conductors to report drug and alcohol-related arrests immediately. It would make Amtrak implement tracking and monitoring procedures, as well as report to Congress details of an electronic record database for drug tests.

The bill would also require the Department of Transportation to amend its auditing system and report to Congress regarding how pipeline companies may require international safety-sensitive personnel to undergo drug and alcohol testing, while still operating domestic infrastructure.

The Department of Transportation would need to report to Congress its methods of reducing impaired driving, including that under the influence of marijuana or opioids. DOT would have to continue researching while determining the usefulness of onsite oral fluid screening and creating guidelines for law enforcement on the use of this screening and drug recognition protocols.

The bill would also require the Government Accountability Office to report on an “assessment of whether the process used by the Department of Health and Human Services by adding and removing categories of drugs to and from the federal workplace drug testing requirements sufficiently addresses the needs of the transportation industry for drug and alcohol testing to prevent drug and alcohol-related incidents.”

Finally, the bill requires that within the first month of its enactment, the HHS secretary must submit to Congress a report determining whether or not to add fentanyl to DOT’s drug testing panel.

The trucking industry has been closely monitor the proposal–a survey by the Alliance for Driver Safety and Security recently found that more than 300,000 current truck drivers would either fail or refuse a hair analysis, a fact which would be enormously detrimental for the industry.

The panel reported this legislation to the Senate with bipartisan backing, but the chamber’s managers have not yet scheduled a date for its consideration.