Technology

How Trucking is Making Major Moves with Electrification

May 28, 2021 by Levinson and Stefani Leave a Comment

Toned Trailer truck with glow and motion blur 3d rendering

The electrification of trucks and buses is finally becoming more mainstream than ever as efforts to reach nationwide goals regarding clean air continue to progress. Although electric passenger cars are the vehicles generating the most revenue out of all electric vehicle sales, the Environmental Defense Fund explained that the usage of zero-emission trucks is gaining momentum.

The benefits from these kinds of trucks are persuading shippers, manufacturers, and environmental activists to strongly support these efforts, and these groups are urging the trucking industry to find the quickest and most efficient ways to increase implementation of non-diesel-powered vehicles.

“Eliminating tailpipe pollution from these vehicles is also essential to help meet our nation’s climate goals,” said the Environmental Defense Fund in its recent report. “Our nation must adopt air pollution standards that ensure that all new sales of medium- and heavy-duty trucks and buses are zero-emission vehicles by 2040 at the latest.”

On the same day that nearly two dozen companies and business groups released a letter requesting that the California Air Resources Board begin taking a serious approach to establishing rules requiring that trucks become electric throughout the state, the Environmental Defense Fund study released its report.

“California has already established itself as an epicenter of the clean energy economy, with nearly 540,000 clean energy workers,” said the letter written by these businesses. “That figure includes almost 40,000 clean vehicle jobs, which covers jobs in electric and hybrid vehicle manufacturing, repair and maintenance, wholesale trade, and professional service in California’s core EV industries.”

California is part of a 15-state coalition working together to ensure all heavy-duty commercial trucks are powered by clean energy by 2050, and has been working to mandate the usage of electric trucks itself. Its in-state efforts will begin in 2024, with current plans for clean-air initiatives progressing into 2045.

“Today, we are testing 78 zero-emission heavy-duty trucks,” explained Gene Seroka, Executive Director of the Port of Los Angeles. “They’re either on the road or being assembled right now. What’s encouraging is that, after more than a decade of proofs-of-concept and demonstrations, we are starting to have real discussions with truck manufacturers about what it will take to make a zero-emission equipment market here in Los Angeles. Our goal is to have this recruitment deployed first at the Port of Los Angeles.”

FedEx, to the approval of many environmental activist groups, announced last month that it would be investing an initial amount of $2 billion into efforts to begin purchasing electric vehicles by the year 2025, with a target goal of converting its entire FedEx Express delivery fleet to solely carbon-neutral vehicles by 2040.

“FedEx trucks pass through neighborhoods across the nation, making this announcement an important step toward better air quality and climate action,” said Sierra Club’s Clean Transportation for All campaign director, Gina Coplon-Newfield. “The momentum to electrify delivery trucks is on, and we urge FedEx to move as quickly as possible to get to a 100% electric fleet.”

Many other carriers have recently made announcements that they are working to implement electric trucks into their own fleets, including Walmart. In September 2020, Walmart announced that it would be working to make all of its tractors electric– it currently has a fleet of 7,400 vehicles. This goal includes its long-haul trucks, and the company has noted that it will aim to reach zero overall carbon emissions–throughout all of its global operations–by 2040.

Canada’s Walmart division is also making major clean energy efforts, committing to converting nearly a quarter of its fleet to become electrically powered by the end of next year–and progressing to using completely clean energy by the year 2028. Specifically, it will be increasing its possession of the Tesla Semi–which is battery-electric–to 130 trucks.

Dependable Highway Express, NFI Industries, Penske Truck Leasing, and Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings have all expressed their intentions to implement electric heavy-duty trucks into their fleets, with Knight-Swift already deploying a Freightliner Cascadia tractor, its first battery-electric truck. The company’s goal is to reduce its carbon emissions by half by the year 2035.

More trucking companies are jumping onboard this trend, like Cummins Inc. and Navistar, who have begun to collaborate in the manufacturing of their own unique Class 8 truck through U.S. Department of Energy grant funds to create a vehicle powered by hydrogen fuel cells.

Finally, Amazon Inc. announced its plans to operate 10,000 electric vans throughout the United States in Europe by next year, and 100,000 completely electric delivery vans by 2030. These delivery vans are manufactured by Rivian, a zero-emission manufacturer whose vehicles will be used by Amazon to make deliveries as soon as this year.

Nation’s Workforce Will Likely See Major Changes at Hands of Automation

May 27, 2021 by Levinson and Stefani Leave a Comment

Automation innovations are becoming extremely impactful on the lives of America’s workforce, according to Meera Joshi, acting administrator for the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.

These people will need to have adequate preparation should their jobs be likely to become affected by these changing technologies, as these modernizations may have “extremely real and broad impacts,” Joshi noted. Preparation should include proper training opportunities and access to to information regarding other jobs that can continue adequately, regardless of automation.

Joshi spoke at the virtual 20th annual Analysis, Research, and Technology Forum held by FMCSA–the Office of Analysis, Research, and Technology focuses heavily on decreasing truck crash deaths and injuries by contributing data and analysis for scientific research regarding boosted safety tech.

Previously, Joshi served as commissioner for the New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission.

“There’s a huge workforce that today travels all across the nation and performs the duties of a professional driver, and it’s been a mainstay of American employment for quite a long time,” she explained. “Nothing will happen overnight, but automated vehicles will certainly make inroads into that workforce. What we can’t argue about is that this is a reality. There will be a major shift in [the nation’s] workforce.”

The identification and improvement of fatal crash corridors that pose a high risk to drivers is another area of focus by FMCSA’s Office of Analysis, Research, and Technology, said the office’s acting director, Kenneth Riddle, at the virtual event. The group is prioritizing a project that will investigate the cases of previous fatal crashes in these areas and determine which spots are the most dangerous–and find efficient methods of improvement.

To begin a nation-wide approach targeting specific regions, the office will utilize data from the Fatality Analysis Reporting System to make the most effective changes possible, noted the Analysis Division’s chief, William Bannister.

According to Riddle, the office will also place major focus into Innovative Technology Deployment grants to fund aspects of Innovative Technology Deployment programs across certain states, such as information systems that are carrier-specific. Additionally, FMCSA will hold a demonstration with its fleets designed specifically for automated vehicle testing this year through its Technology Division.

“The Innovative Technology Deployment grants are a critical resource for states to deploy technology projects to improve overall efficiency to their [commercial motor vehicle] operations [within] both the administration and enforcement areas,” explained Riddle.

In addition, improved compliance capabilities will be a major factor at hand with these efforts. Riddle added: “The ITD projects improve the efficiency of state roadside regulatory compliance activities to allow them to focus on high-risk carriers.”

Still, many regulations are currently in limbo as the government transitions from the Trump administration to the Biden administration, with many proposals still under review. One such proposal is that of a pilot program which originally aimed to evaluate two truck driver sleeper berth split time options–one that divided 10 hours of mandatory off duty time into a 6/4-hour split, and one that divided it into a 5/5-hour split.

“Real evaluation of what’s currently in place is something that I think is primary in understanding whether there should be further adjustment to the rules,” said Joshi. “We’re certainly open and interested and need the information from stakeholders whose particular category of business may [cause them to] find themselves in different situations with respect to our rules. There’s absolutely that balance.”

The coronavirus pandemic has also led to further changes regarding safety improvement efforts, as stay-at-home orders caused more people to stay off the road and reduce traffic congestion–but with more people returning to work and fewer people wanting to use public transportation out of fear of virus transmission, the nation could see more vehicles on the roads now than we did pre-pandemic.

“2021 may very well see many more cars and many more trucks on our roads,” said Joshi. “That doesn’t bode well for reducing fatalities. It makes our task that much more challenging in the coming years.”

Still, groups like American Transportation Research Institute are dedicating many of their efforts to analyzing Crash Predictor Models and a potential vehicle-miles-traveled tax system for the country, according to ATRI’s President, Rebecca Brewster, who made clear the fact that modern and adaptive industry research will continue on, no matter what setbacks may arise.

Venture Capital May be Vital in the Modernization of Trucking Tech Systems

May 20, 2021 by Levinson and Stefani Leave a Comment

Autonomous Electric Van semi truck car driving on a highway with technology assistant tracking information, showing details.

We recently reported on the growing number of trucking technology companies merging with startups to stay competitive in the industry. To avoid inefficiencies, though, convergence is key.

With these vendors bringing in more aspects of modern trucking tech into their businesses, hardware can easily become redundant. Therefore, many managers are having to work with various data streams, platforms, and logins.

For example, when Omnitracs first acquired SmartDrive, tech convergence became a priority. The company soon found that it could lower overall costs for fleets by merging in-cab applications, core devices, and data plans. It also discovered that carriers could make similar convergences on the back office side instead of having to work with a variety of host systems.

According to the company’s CEO, Ray Greer, Omnitracs was also able to consolidate data gathered by apps, onboard video capabilities, and telematics in order to boost visibility and bring the company further insight.

“You can begin to mine that to better understand the environment, better understand the conditions to improve the coaching of the driver, [and] maybe even [better understand] the management of the asset, the freight, and the delivery,” said Greer.

“This would not have been possible without venture capital funds,” added Bart De Muynck, research vice president of Gartner Inc., explaining that venture capital has helped the industry exponentially by bringing in new vendors and by helping fleets steer their companies in the direction of lower-cost and cloud-based management and safety software.

According to Greer, though, companies newer to the market have a more difficult time rising up against the competition and boosting their own technology than a more substantiated company would, and typically end up leaving the industry by becoming acquired.

In fact, most startups keep their eyes on rapid growth and high selling value as opposed to steady increases in profits.

“They’re building for growth, and they’re building to sell,” said James Langley, senior vice president of Trimble Transportation.

Convergence can become particularly tricky when trucking tech start ups produce some “really compelling solutions” regarding methods of data utilization and artificial intelligence application, Langley said, but they also will often create specific solutions for particular problems, which makes it difficult for their fleet customers to incorporate that solution into the software they’ve already implemented.

Langley came across this exact problem when he served as president of Dart Transit Co., a truckload carrier based in Eagan, Minnesota.

“I’d have people come in and present some really awesome technologies, and my next question was, ‘OK, does that mean I need another sign-on? Does that mean I need another portal? Does that mean I need another reporting tool?’ Because if that’s the answer, I don’t want it, because my people only have so much time in a day,” he remembered.

The trucking technology market has also become much more complicated in recent years as consolidation continues to become more common, and many vendors that work in competition in specific market segments are also, oftentimes, collaborating on certain tech integrations within other areas of the market in an effort to bring further convenience to the customers they share.

“My view, as the leader of Trimble Transportation, is [that] we have to embrace ‘coopetition’ because we have to support customer choices,” said Langley.

With all of these new and unique applications for trucking companies, many fleets will chose multiple kinds of technology to suit their individual needs, Langley added.

“If we want people to buy more of our solutions, our Trimble-branded solutions, it has to be the one plus one equals three. They’ve got to be better together,” he explained. “We’ve got to win on [the] value proposition. We can’t hold a customer back if we don’t have exactly what they need.”

The industry, as a whole, seems to expect these kinds of consolidations within trucking tech to continue in the coming years, especially as more improvements and advances are made in electric and automated vehicle technology, final-mile delivery capabilities, machine learning, and data analytics. The boosted innovation and investment that will come with these changes will undoubtedly bring more consolidation in this sector.

Finally, many companies won’t be able to go all-in on one platform unless it implements much better user experiences, better overall capabilities, and a much lower cost, De Muynck explained.

“On the shipper side, we have already seen a much larger desire for a single platform and supplier,” he said. “We have not yet seen the same appetite on the carrier side. The economic conditions of the carriers mean they have to continue to use their software for a lot longer, whereas shippers have no issue changing out a TMS, for example, after three years.”

Software and Telematics Collaboration is Drastically Changing Trucking Tech

May 19, 2021 by Levinson and Stefani Leave a Comment

Telematics and software companies are working together to boost their outreach, capability possibilities, and organization sizes as consolidation has been resulting in massive changes across technology throughout the trucking world.

As this expansion continues and technology advances, transportation tech startup numbers have been growing steadily. Even technology vendors that have been in the transportation sector for a while have been buying out these newbies to maintain their competitive edges and continue improving their products.

Not only do these vendors often purchase startups and integrate their newer ideas into their business models, but they will also bring in a variety of fleet management tech capabilities like back-office software, vehicle telematics, and workflow apps as well as routing, navigation, and onboard camera software.

With new methods of trucking safety technology emerging into the industry all the time, established vendors can either find ways to create their own versions of these new programs or buy out another company that has been making waves with a particular new method. Typically, purchasing a small company or startup is a much easier and faster solution to stay on top of the tech game than developing a copycat software.

“It’s sometimes easier to acquire technology that’s already winning in the marketplace and [that] complements what you’re doing and adds to your bevy of tools,” said Trimble Transportation senior vice president, James Langley.

Trimble followed these acquisition methods, beginning with its purchase of PeopleNet in 2011. These mergers led to Trimble becoming a global navigation and tracking tech provider for fleets across the continent, allowing it to continue buying other smaller tech firms including ALK Technologies, Kuebix, TMW Systems, and 10-4 Systems.

Now, Trimble is able to provide services for fleets such as real-time sensor data, geospatial routing and navigation, and fleet management software for a company’s back office. According to Langley, these added capabilities coming together with longer-used technologies are making it easier for the industry to remedy difficulties regarding on-time, in-full deliveries and driver detention times.

“If you’re trying to work towards a more connected supply chain to make it more efficient, you’re connecting the driver to the back office to the shipper,” he said. “Fundamentally, that’s the way we [believe] you can solve these workflow challenges and make the industry more efficient as a whole.”

New federal mandates within the industry have led to increased technology demand as well, therefore bringing about even more tech startups–such as when the electronic logging device mandate came into play.

As federal guidelines and expected capabilities keep changing, companies like Descartes, a logistics and supply chain software provider throughout the globe, make frequent and strategic acquisitions on a regular basis to stay up-to-date and competitive.

Descartes has acquired more than 40 companies throughout the last decade and a half.

“We’re driven to help the industry by bringing together the processes, network, and data that [are] needed to completely automate the movement of shipments,” said Edward Ryan, CEO of Descartes. “Companies focused on building from the ground up often need longer research and development cycles to bring technology to market, bet it, and gain market trust not only for the product but for the company as well. In an environment with quickly shifting business needs, time is at a premium, and for some transportation organizations, consolidation may afford the opportunity to operationalize technologies faster.”

Omnitracs, a provider of trucking telematics that branched off from Qualcomm in 2013, has become a major name within video telematics by acquiring tech firms like XRS Corp. and Roadnet Technologies, as well as video-focused safety tech provider, SmartDrive Systems.

“The primary interest for me in acquiring SmartDrive is the recognition that behavioral event processing is in its early infancy of adoption in the industry,” said CEO of Omnitacs, Ray Greer. “It’s becoming a standard for how to drive safe practices in the industry, specifically the intention of reducing the frequency of accidents as well as the severity of accidents.”

According to Gartner Inc.’s vice president of research, Bart De Muynck, mergers and acquisitions have been on a steep incline in the last few years within the entire fleet telematics sector. Verizon Connect was a perfect example in 2016 when it acquired Telogis and Fleetmatics. Many other telematics vendors have also been integrating trucking tech at the factory level by creating partnerships with vehicle manufacturers.

A Truckers New Best Friend–Mobile Apps

May 8, 2021 by Levinson and Stefani Leave a Comment

Mobile apps are making their way up the list of a trucker’s most useful tools, and are now helping professionals throughout the industry manage aspects such as customer and broker communication, route planning (including planning ahead for parking and food stops), document processing (including payments), and finding and booking loads.

“It makes finding loads and servicing the customers [and] our brokers a lot easier,” said Greenmiles Inc. president, Shain Ferriss. Greenmiles carries refrigerated goods and operates 26 refrigerated trailers and 23 power units. To do so more efficiently, it uses trucking apps like Trucker Tools.

Apps like these can be utilized on everything from GPS systems and electronic logging devices to a driver’s own smartphone. They are also helping fleet managers, shippers, and drivers have better insight into freight movements, allowing them to communicate with one another much more easily and manage their loads as efficiently as possible.

Apps that allow freight brokers, specifically, to see tracking and shipment updates in real time “takes a lot of weight off the drivers’ and carrier’s shoulders,” explained Ferriss. “When the broker or their customer can actually see geographical tracking through an app, they feel a lot more comfortable, and they’re happier with the carrier that’s using it.”

Additionally, some drivers can become easily overwhelmed when using multiple apps for different purposes, so multipurpose apps can come in handy.

“[Carriers] don’t want their drivers using five to 12 apps to do one job,” said vice president of sales and strategic partnerships for Eleos Technologies, Wes Pollock. Eleos provides an application for trucking companies to customize their own platforms. Some added services on newer apps also include the ability to factor and purchase insurance.

The Trucker Path app was initially launched in 2013 to help drivers better communicate with one another to stay up-to-date on current parking availability, and now the app functions primarily as a navigation guide, according to the company’s vice president of business development, Steven Lopez. Last year, the app launched its own load board.

Professional driver Deon Melvin has been using Trucker Path to gain insight into peak parking times and availability while on the road.

“Now you can use [the app] for truck routes,” Melvin said. “If my GPS loses the signal, I can pull it up on my phone and use [the app] to get me where I need to be.”

Trucker Tools is continuing to work on updating its truck stop guide, and recently released a page on its app dedicated specifically to COVID-19-related updates. The pandemic has brought about many new protocols, safety measures, and hours of operation changes, which has made apps like these frequently update their capabilities and services. Now, truckers are playing an important part in keeping these updates current by submitting their experiences during their rest stops.

Many truck stops and rest areas began shutting down in the midst of the pandemic, “and even at warehouses and facilities, suddenly amenities were closed to drivers who were delivering or picking up,” explained Trimble Maps’ director of operations and strategy, Rishi Mehra. During unprecedented and difficult times like these, “aggregation of information becomes much more important,” he added.

Trimble Maps has been using Twitter and RSS feeds to keep its geographic information system data up to date by collaborating with state agencies and truck stop workers that operate rest areas. Then, that data is implemented into the app’s MileOn trip planning extension.

Later, the app offered an additional service with color-coded map amenities showing a driver whether a rest area was partially open, fully open, or closed, according to Mehra.

Some of Trimble’s partners ended up utilizing the app within their own transportation management systems.

“The information can only be as accurate as the sync cycle,” Mehra explained, nothing that the system’s information must always be kept up to date to be at all helpful.

Some trucking companies have also been able to boost recruitment and retention numbers by providing tools, such as these kinds of apps, to help drivers directly. If an app allows drivers to easily route to travel centers with rewards programs and preferred fuel rates, it may be particularly beneficial.

“Food choices, shopping, and parking [are] already at a premium for us,” said JM Bozerman Enterprises driver and recruiter, Christopher Smith. “We can’t just fire her up and head into town. Knowing where to go and getting there quickly and safely” is most important.

Tire Maintenance Revamped Due to New Technologies and Designs

May 4, 2021 by Levinson and Stefani Leave a Comment

Tire monitoring is changing–fast. New technologies and tire designs are boosting maintenance operations for fleets, although the overall tire-changing process has remained relatively unchanged over the last few decades.

“The tires have changed, very much so,” said Tire Industry Association’s senior vice president of training, Kevin Rohlwing. “But that doesn’t change the way we service them. The mounting and demounting of tires hasn’t really changed since I first did it in 1982.”

Although new tire designs are constantly released by tire manufacturers, fleets say that both modern and legacy models are still maintained with the usual techniques.

“Overall, there hasn’t been a whole lot of change [that] we’ve seen from a maintenance standpoint, except probably [that there are] faster wear cycles with some of the new tire compounds,” said Dart Transits’ vice president of maintenance, Paul Pettit.

Jack Legler, technical director for American Trucking Association’s Technology and Maintenance Council, said that the agency is often upgrading current recommended maintenance practices and is constantly finding ways to create new ones in collaboration with new tire designs and technological advances as they come about. Technicians can find better ways to spec with these RPs, and can also integrate enhanced methods of troubleshooting and maintenance.

“Wheels evolve in parallel with tires and include aerodynamic devices, along with tire pressure and condition sensors, monitoring, and management,” Legler said.

The largest group of RPs in TMC consists within the S.2 Tire and Wheel Study Group and task forces. This includes the Future Truck Committee’s Tire Durability and Reliability Task Force, which helps manufacturers and fleets work together to find and solve tire durability limitations, and create ways to lower overall tire operating costs.

RPs allow TMC to help fleets manage and protect their large tire inventory investments, Legler explained. Innovative trucking technology has helped tire inventory tracking become one of the most-changed trucking industry aspects over the last ten years.

A fleet’s tire details can be stored easily within inventory software databases, which allow employees to more easily find the necessary tire on-site as well as determine the needs for tire replacement and emergency changes while on the road. Tires can also be equipped with chips or RFID tags that can be implemented into these database systems for easier transfer of information, and many systems can now manage tire conditions in real time.

These softwares can also be used in conjunction with newer tire pressure technology, which involve monitoring systems and automatic tire inflation capabilities that have been significantly impactful for many fleets across the country.

Fleets see the benefits of these technology boosts in the decrease of tread wear, improvement of rolling resistance, and the ability to more easily address maintenance issues while their tires sustain consistent tire pressure. The use of automatic inflation systems can also allow for “tremendous advantages” in regards to the increase of labor efficiency, safety, and earnings, according to Rohlwing.

Additionally, fleets are able to alter their tire PSIs through certain monitoring systems, which allows each position on a truck to experience the best performance possible.

“That’s new for us…but fuel economy always is a big deal with tires, and we watch that closely when making purchases,” said Dot Foods’ director of fleet maintenance, Kevin Buss. Dot has been altering some PSIs at different tire positions in collaboration with tire manufacturers, and is now able to focus on performance instead of the benchmarks which previously determined operation efficiency. “Many folks that are not really familiar with tire programs would say they just need a tire that wears the best. But that doesn’t mean it will give you good fuel economy,” Buss said.

Because fuel is one of the biggest costs for fleets, fuel-efficient tires are able to help them see huge savings throughout a tire’s lifetime, although such tires may be an initial investment.

“If you’re running low-rolling-resistance tires or LRR retreads, you’re probably seeing an improvement in your fuel milage, and any kind of gain you get in fuel mileage is going straight to the bottom line,” said Rohlwing.

LRR tires can also be mounted with the same techniques used with standard tubeless tires. Technicians should thoroughly inspect the tire and wheel to check for damage or rust before securing a tire bead seating. Finally, bead lubricants can help avoid any damage and reduce tire bead-rim flange friction.