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AI Is Future of Trucking, Startup Founders Say

December 15, 2021 by Levinson and Stefani Leave a Comment

Artificial intelligence continues to make waves across the industry, becoming a huge hope for trucking companies and the public alike when it comes to the future of roadway safety.

Now, AI Fleet, a trucking company startup based out of Austin, Texas, is prioritizing the utilization of artificial intelligence tech and bringing on drivers that it feels will be able to make a progressive difference in the industry as a whole.

“Our mission is to make truck driving better,” said AI Fleet’s CEO, Mark El Khoury. “That means better for the drivers, better for our customers, and better for the overall nation. Today, the driver shortage is really nothing but a symptom of how poorly-utilized drivers are.”

El Khoury co-founded AI Fleet last year after leaving a prominent role as a consultant within the trucking world; his new company focuses upon AI technology to boost efficiency and circumvent regular trucking industry challenges.

According to El Khoury, trucking has been focused upon customers and shippers since its beginnings–instead of prioritizing the drivers that push the industry forward. Because of this, the overall truck driver shortage has been as serious as ever, with more and more truckers making the decision to leave the industry for good.

“Our current drivers–overall in the U.S.–are unhappy that they’re not making enough money.” he explained. “Clearly, that’s the problem that we have to solve.”

AI Fleet’s software can choose hauls for truckers by taking into account what will bring in the most money for a driver and his or her company, in addition to considering what route will be best for the driver, specifically. Downtime is also shortened with this system as the technology can alert drivers of all aspects surrounding their next shipment even before they complete the current haul. This is possible through a variety of back-office efforts on top of automated shipment planning and acceptance.

“A driver journey starts when a driver is available,” said El Khoury. “They usually drive empty miles to pick up their load, but once they arrive to pick up their load, they usually have to wait for their appointment. Once they get to their appointment, [they] have to wait to get loaded.”

El Khoury noted that all of this waiting time points to efficiency shortcomings in the truck driver hauling process itself.

“After you’re loaded to drive to your destination…you have to wait to get unloaded, and then you have to wait to get assigned for [the] next load,” he continued. “Every time I said ‘wait’…is actually an inefficiency in the driver journey.”

These problems are ultimately avoidable, El Khoury said–all a company needs to do is implement and employ certain kinds of innovative technology.

“Where our technology comes into play–it’s helping us make better decisions by being able to review those billions of options and then assigning loads to drivers in a way to maximize driver utilization,” he explained.

This has been a largely vacant space in the trucking sector, El Khoury noted, saying that the AI Fleet team quickly concluded that the best way to become a major player in the industry would be to find a way for technology to truly benefit the everyday operations of a trucking company. Typically, these companies are not the best software consumers, so solely selling software products to fleets was not considered to be the most lucrative choice.

“We basically ended up starting a trucking company from scratch,” he said. “We use technology to replace a big chunk of our operations. Instead of helping humans do a better job as many trucking companies do, the AI technology is the brain behind making decisions.”

Additionally, AI Fleet wants to bring a strong focus to overall care for truck drivers, encouraging truckers to go home at least once a week and offering health care, paid time off, and a guaranteed salary. Nearly two-thirds of AI Fleet’s recent hires have been through referrals, El Khoury added.

“Trucking is not scalable today,” he said. “This driver utilization problem means that large trucking companies, at some point, say, “You know what? If we keep growing or [out] utilization is already low…it’s going to potentially get worse.”

Now, AI Fleet hopes to soon become the most prominent trucking company in the country.

“We are hoping to show that through a different business model and through technology, we can build a scale with trucking companies,” said El Khoury.

Amazon Finds Ways Around Strained Supply Chain, But is it Safe?

December 14, 2021 by Levinson and Stefani Leave a Comment

“There are structural advantages you have in redundancy if you’re Amazon,” said former Amazon leader who guided logistics software-focused teams, Jason Murray. “Amazon has its own transportation network, it has access to all the carriers. Multiple ships, multiple factories.”

Because of this, the major online retailer has been able to circumvent shipment difficulties that have left boxes and boxes of product inventory stuck at ports along the west coast–Los Angeles in particular–by chartering the Olive Bay and subsequently dispatching to a port north of Seattle (where the company’s base is located). Amazon has also docked at the Port of Houston, in addition to Everett, allowing the retailer to meet the demands of one of the biggest online shopping holiday seasons to date. In fact, according to Adobe, shoppers across the United States are projected to spend $207 billion among online retail options–a 10% increase from 2020.

To help keep these shipments moving smoothly and efficiently, Amazon brought on an additional 150,000 seasonal employees, offering sign-on bonuses of up to $3,000 and overall pay boosts. Costs for logistical moves–such as dispatching trucks that are only half-full–to meet demands during the ever-important holiday shopping season and an ongoing major boost in e-commerce will likely reach around $4 billion, enough to put many other companies out of business.

However, Amazon vans hauling cargo from hundreds of delivery depots, thousands of employees and contracted workers, Amazon-chartered ships bringing in products from Asian factories, and Amazon Air cargo jets making their way across the country will all be to thank if Amazon meets the high demands of customers across the country.

“Amazon had space on ships, and I couldn’t say no to anyone,” said home decor and lighting retailer David Knopfler of Lights.com. His comments come as one of thousands of sellers offering their products on Amazon’s website who previously refused to do so. The reason? These companies would need to share pricing and supplier information and data with Amazon, potentially allowing for future competition with the company. However, holiday season container shortages made it difficult for these merchants to refuse access to these shipment capabilities.

“It’s a one-stop-shop from Asia to Amazon,” said Goja’s CEO, Walter Gonzales. Goja sells a variety of products on Amazon’s site. “It reduces the gray areas where the shipping process might fail.”

Now, Goja has stocked up on 95% of the inventory it will need to fill holiday season orders, Gonzales noted.

In fact, Amazon has been booking cargo ship space in advance since around 2015 in an effort to make for a smooth-as-possible shipping process between its warehouse and Chinese factories, an irresistible offer for nearly any online seller.

“They basically went from zero containers a month a few years ago to over 10,000 containers a month,” said ocean freight consultant Steve Ferreira. “The thing is an 800-pound gorilla now.”

Still, bringing Amazon customers their holiday season orders efficiently and on-time has been trickier in the midst of a continuous labor shortage; job-hunt websites have been filled with Amazon warehouse gigs fit with incentives, benefits, and bonuses. Overtime opportunities are allowing employees to earn even more than their supervisors, although the pressure of current demand may not be worth the extra income.

“Amazon will stick to its guns and get things to customers,” said former Amazon Logistics executive, David Glick. “It’s going to be extensive, but in the long term, [it] builds customer trust.”

Regardless of efforts to keep customers happy during this time, Levinson and Stefani’s Ken Levinson wants to make sure Amazon–and any company hiring transportation workers right now–is bringing in the best candidates possible and keeping them trained and well-informed on all aspects of safety protocol. Safe driving is imperative, he said.

“It goes back to training,” he explained. “Just because someone may be in a rush to get things done, it’s not an excuse to let safety go to the wayside. Often, companies have unrealistic expirations based on their workers’ pay and delivery times that can create a huge incentive to be unsafe, and we can’t have that. We have to make sure they’re going to regulate themselves.”

He also hopes police offers are keeping a close eye on everyone hauling shipments over the holidays, especially given the inclement weather that comes with the winter season.

“Law enforcement needs to be diligent in making sure safety laws are adhered to, especially when it comes to speeding and driving in hazardous conditions,” Levinson said.

Cyberattacks Become Looming Threat to Public Safety, Industry Leaders Step In

December 13, 2021 by Levinson and Stefani Leave a Comment

When we think of safety in the transportation industry, we may overlook one very important factor in keeping transportation as safe as possible–cybersecurity.

After a recent cyberattack on a large petroleum pipeline, the U.S. House of Representatives’ transportation committee is pushing for boosted insight regarding such cybersecurity operations. Chairman Peter DeFazio of Oregon told stakeholders at a Transportation and Infrastructure Committee hearing that cybersecurity improvements are imperative, and increasing oversight throughout transportation network cybersecurity–particularly within rail, aviation, and transit–should be prioritized now.

“I understand [the Transportation Security Administration] intends to issue a security directive for passenger rail, high-risk freight rail, and the transit sector,” he said while members discussed TSA’s cybersecurity guidelines. “For those that care about the public’s safety and the nation’s economic and national security, these efforts–in both the public and private sectors–should not be controversial.”

This kind of security needs to be taken much more seriously, DeFazio added, noting that public safety relies on keeping these sectors secure.

“The public’s safety and the nation’s security depend on these systems,” he continued. “While no single change can prevent every cyberattack, we need to raise the bar significantly and make cyberattacks on our systems much more difficult to accomplish.”

Additionally, TSA should welcome further stakeholder and public input regarding the creation of any new pipeline cybersecurity regulations, noted Railroads, Pipelines, and Hazardous Materials Subcommittee ranking member Representative Rick Crawford of Arkansas.

“We’re considering all of our options, including the most transparent option,” said deputy assistant administrator for policy, plans, and engagement at TSA, Victoria Newhouse, who added that this kind of input will help TSA to develop cybersecurity policies in the future. “As we have continued robust engagement, both at the classified and unclassified [levels], with all of our surface transportation stakeholders, in particular our pipeline, rail–freight rail, passenger rail–and aviation stakeholders, we’re considering all of those options.”

U.S. Department of Transportation agencies are also working together to find methods of avoiding cyberattacks like that of the Colonial Pipeline.

“We’ll continue to improve our existing systems to make them more secure, while they continue to operate, so that they resiliently support DOT’s operations and the American people,” said USDOT chief information officer Cordell Schachter. “We will also meet the challenge of continuously improving the cybersecurity of DOT information technology systems while keeping these systems available for use. We look forward to working with this committee, our agency partners, and the White House to strengthen and protect our infrastructure and systems.”

These collaborative efforts didn’t take long to bring actionable steps to fruition, as major freight and passenger railroads will now be required to report any cybersecurity breaches promptly and to regularly review their cyberattack vulnerability, as part of the Biden administration’s efforts to urge the private sector to further protect national infrastructure from hackers.

This new mandate was announced earlier this month by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and will come into full effect on December 31st of this year.

“These new cybersecurity requirements and recommendations will help keep the traveling public safe and protect our critical infrastructure from evolving threats,” said Alejandro Mayorkas, Homeland Security Secretary. “DHS will continue working with our partners across every level of government and in the private sector to increase the resilience of our critical infrastructure nationwide.”

This new requirement will call for a designated cybersecurity coordinator for most railroads, who will need to conduct vulnerability assessments, create incident-response plans, and report any hacking-related incidents within 24 hours. Congress has given authority to the government to issue previous notice-and-comment period-bypassing directives for federal regulations. Additionally, TSA has recently required airport and airline operators to also designate a cybersecurity coordinator and report all cybersecurity incidents and issues to the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.

“The federal government should be part of the solution,” said Commerce Committee Chairwoman Maria Cantwell of these new regulations, adding that there is still an economic threat looming with future potential cyberattacks. “We need to bring about critical infrastructure investments in technology that can help the electricity grid and companies secure their networks from these kinds of intrusions.”

Dock Efficiency Relies on Proper Planning; Safety Still Needs Prioritization

December 11, 2021 by Levinson and Stefani Leave a Comment

The nation’s supply chain continues to face difficulties and delays, especially during the pandemic era boost in e-commerce on top of the demands of the holiday season.

Now, finding methods of improving efficiency and speed is imperative for warehouse companies, dock equipment managers, and the trucking industry.

“Efficiency is about clear, routine operations with reduced manual steps and communication with everyone that is working the dock area, including the transportation drivers,” said Blue Giant Equipment Corp.’s director of engineered solutions, Gerard Biasutto.

Delayed or missed deliveries, on top of driver annoyance, are common challenges for many fleets–especially given the current difficulties surrounding the truck driver shortage.

“I am frequently speaking with drivers about the growing delays at shippers’ docks,” said Grand Island Express’ director of operations, Deen Albert. “Although we are constantly reviewing and revising our delay [and] detention pay to our drivers, this is a growing frustration for drivers and is a threat to driver retention in our industry.”

Additionally, loading docs require regular maintenance, updates, and planning to keep productivity levels high.

“The loading dock is often an ignored place from a maintenance and equipment standpoint, but it is the first and last entry point for the product,” said director of marketing at Ideal Warehouse, Dirk Seis.

To keep less-than-truckload operations working smoothly and on time, the loading dock must keep hours of service open for as long as possible, noted the operations leader of productivity and efficiency at Averitt Express, Amos Rogan.

“Much like the airline industry, the customer expectation is for those flights to depart and arrive timely to make service,” he said. “LTL is the same in that we must hit our schedules to meet the expectations of our customers.”

Of course, proper communication is the most important part of keeping dock shipments moving as safe as possible, Rogan added.

“If you don’t have a good plan of how shipments are going to be processed, you will see dock associates not moving at their highest potential,” he said, adding that project planning includes mapping out routes so that cross-dock movement can take place smoothly. “Anyone working the dock will only be as good as the plan they are working with.”

Still, the biggest issue when it comes to delays at loading docks is typically understaffing.

“As a carrier, we can see that the staging areas are becoming more and more congested,” said Grant Island Express’ Albert. “In certain circumstances, this can be due to a lack of space, but in many circumstances, this is due to an inefficient or overloaded workflow. This creates a visual illustration directly to our drivers and adds to the delay concerns that are already mounting.”

Understanding a dock’s layout is also particularly important when it comes to timely deliveries and pickups.

“We measure our productivity in not only how many pounds per hour we move across the dock but also how many feet per shipment a dock associate travels,” noted Averitt’s Rogan. “If you are shipping trailers on one end of the dock and loading on the other, you’re wasting valuable time traveling back and forth for each shipment.”

Although the issues around potential delays and efficiency are causing further problems for the supply chain, Levinson and Stefani’s Ken Levinson doesn’t want carriers to jump the gun in onboarding new drivers to meet these demands, as safety training around this type of transportation is imperative.

“Everyone understands the pressures of getting trucks loaded, but we always need to keep safety in mind,” he said. “Like anything else, it may be busy and we may want to get things done quickly and get back home, but that doesn’t mean anything should be done unsafely.”

For companies bringing new transportation workers to the loading docks for the first time, Levinson urges that they prioritize safety training efforts as much as possible.

“This is a good time to reiterate protocols to make sure loads are safely sealed and that people are kept safe,” he said.

Is Allowing Teenage Truckers to Haul Interstate Cargo the Answer to the Driver Shortage? Industry Groups Say Yes

December 10, 2021 by Levinson and Stefani Leave a Comment

“Regulatory flexibilities, especially during emergencies, are vital to supply chain continuity,” wrote a coalition of trucking industry groups in a recent letter to President Joe Biden.

This statement comes as part of an overarching request to ease federal truck driver testing requirements in an effort to find a solution for the current ongoing truck driver shortage in the United States. This particular request calls for methods of allowing teenage drivers to begin entering the industry as interstate truck drivers.

In fact, new legislature implemented by Biden will allow drivers between the ages of 18 and 21 to operate commercial motor vehicles across state lines as part of a three-year pilot program. This program–which became part of the new infrastructure bill as a way to help the trucking industry meet demands at a time where the driver shortage has reached 80,000 truckers–has received strong opposition from industry safety advocates. The most prevalent argument against the new rule? Teenage drivers are involved in car accidents and crashes at a rate of four times more than their older counterparts.

“Allowing teens to drive big rigs across state borders in the face of research showing that this age group has significantly higher fatal crash rates is reckless and dangerous,” said co-chair of Parents Against Tired Truckers, Russ Swift. “An empty store shelf is not as tragic as an empty chair at Christmas dinner because your loved one needlessly died in a crash caused by a teen trucker.”

Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety president Cathy Chase agreed, noting that allowing such young drivers to operate CMVs would allow for “inexperienced, risk-prone teenagers” to bring higher safety risks to everyone on the road.

In addition, more flexible hours-of-service regulations have been extended during the pandemic and the shortage, continuing from a Trump-era exemption allowing drivers to extend their on-duty periods to 14 hours and to be able to split their rest breaks how they’d like. Initially, truckers were limited by the Department of Transportation to driving only 11 hours a day with at least one mandatory half-hour break in the first eight hours of their on-duty period. This flexibility arguably worsens the ongoing issue of truck driver fatigue, which reduces overall safety on America’s roadways.

“Long workdays, excessive driving hours, and unreasonable delivery demands jeopardize the safety of truck drivers and motorists,” said president of the Truck Safety Coalition, Dawn King.

Still, the trucking industry stays convinced that the most practical way to ease the shortage, boost the economy, and meet rising e-commerce demands is to lower the minimum age of transporting this cargo.

“Older drivers are leaving and retiring, and we’re not bringing in younger drivers to replace them fast enough,” said John Stomps, CEO of Total Transportation of Mississippi, noting that he believes this is the only way to help the current strain on the country’s supply chain.

Executive vice president for advocacy at American Trucking Associations, Bill Sullivan, has tried reassuring these safety advocates that trucking companies will prioritize safety when they onboard such young interstate truckers.

“The last thing any of our members want to do is do this unsafely,” he said. “We want to produce a driver who is at least as safe as a21-year-old.

The coalition of trucking industry organizations that wrote to Biden about pushing forward regulation relaxations are also working to ensure truck drivers are not mandated to become vaccinated against COVID-19, claiming that truck drivers spend the majority of their work days alone. Because of this, they believe a mandate would be unnecessary and may cause more truckers to leave the industry itself.

“We’re not anti-vaccine, but in our survey of 120,000 truckers, 50% were vaccinated and 50% weren’t vaccinated,” said Sullivan. “37% of all drivers said they would go to a company that doesn’t have a vaccine mandate or leave the industry altogether.”

These added flexibilities may help ease the long-term truck driver shortage and help the industry meet the current demands of the country, but it’s clear that keeping shipments efficient is more important to many industry members than the safety of truckers or other drivers with whom they share the road.

Legislation lowering the minimum age for operating commercial motor vehicles across state lines is highly likely to come to fruition, industry experts believe.

Most Electric Vehicles Are Not as Reliable as Expected, New Report Shows

December 9, 2021 by Levinson and Stefani Leave a Comment

In a recent study by Consumer Reports, reliability around new electric vehicles isn’t as high as most people may think.

In fact, Tesla Inc.’s battery-powered electric vehicles ranked nearly last for the second year in a row in terms of consumer reliability, with Ford Motor Co.’s Lincoln division ranking even worse. Clearly, the most innovative technology doesn’t mean it’s the best–or safest–right away.

“A lot of EVs are at the high end of the market and have a lot of new tech, like new ways to open the doors,” said Consumer Reports’ senior director of auto testing, Jake Fisher. “It’s causing problems.”

Apparently, the low reliability in these kinds of vehicles doesn’t necessarily pertain to electric batteries, but rather to the technological updates manufacturers like Tesla bring into the cab to help these cars feel luxurious and innovative–such as switching typically mechanical controls for digital ones.

For instance, many electric cars have large touch screens and even informational and entertainment systems implemented in their cabs, with software updates available via download from the cloud. With all of these modern changes, many manufacturers have yet to get everything working smoothly and efficiently, according to Consumer Reports. Tesla’s Model X SUV, Model Y SUV, and Model S sedan are all below-average in their current reliability tanking.

Additionally, Volkswagen’s ID.4 EV and Audi’s E-Tron rank below average in reliability, Fisher noted. Only Ford’s Mustang Mach-E and Tesla’s Model 3 have decent rankings. Following behind are GM’s Chevrolet in 14th place, Ford in 18th, and Stellantis NV’s Jeep brand in 26th.

Still, some brands did rank particularly well, with Japanese manufacturers making up the majority of high-ranking reliable electric vehicles. In first place was Lexus, with Mazda, Toyota, Infiniti, and Buick close behind. Behind those were Honda, Subaru, Acura, Nissan, and Mini, with the only non-Japanese manufacturers in the top 10 being Buick by GM and Mini by BMW. The success of Japanese makers, Fisher said, is that they tend to implement new tech gradually with fewer major engineering changes, keeping digital difficulties to a minimum.

Of course, many of these automakers also manufacture commercial trucks, which are, of course, leaning toward electric vehicle technology lately, as well. Because of this, these reliability reports are important to keep in mind for trucking companies looking to bring new electric CMVs into their fleets.

Companies may also be jumping the gun in regards to getting their truckers into electrically-powered big rigs, noted Levinson and Stefani’s Ken Levinson. Levinson said that he supports technological innovations, especially in the transportation industry–but keeping drivers well-informed and behaving safety should always be top priority.

“It comes down to training,” he said. “There’s always going to be technological changes with trucks, but safety companies need to make sure their drivers are trained to operate these vehicles in the best and safest manner so people aren’t injured or killed. “

Although younger drivers entering the industry may feel much more comfortable and natural working with all of these tech updates within the cabs of their trucks, older truck drivers are likely to have a harder time getting used to these changes and being able to work with them easily while also operating their vehicles. This has the potential to cause a plethora of safety issues if drivers aren’t trained and ready to spend their work days in these tech-heavy cabs.

“One of the biggest issues with this new tech is that there will be distractions within the dash and console area, and many drivers need to be re-trained to make sure they aren’t distracted or confused by the technology,” Levinson continued. “They can’t be taking their eyes off of the road and harming someone.”

Sharing the road with truckers learning to operate these new kinds of trucks adds to the alertness passenger drivers need to practice while driving near them, and makes defensive driving even more imperative. Distracted and fatigued driving is already a major issue in the trucking industry; focusing on in-cab tech may exacerbate that potential truck driver distraction.

“Hiring safe drivers that are experienced, and making sure that when they are hired, they’re well-versed in safety protocols and practices, is key,” said Levinson. But passenger drivers should be extra careful around these truckers, regardless of how well-trained they may be.