Technology

As Chinese Tech Ban Deadline Arrives, Carriers Must Be Ready

October 5, 2020 by Levinson and Stefani Leave a Comment

Motor carriers working with the federal government had to send a request to find and purge telecommunications equipment made by five different Chinese companies involved in their operations before the deadline of August 13th.

Earlier this month, American Trucking Associations’ Government Freight Conference hosted a webinar aiming to help carriers become clear on what they needed to do in terms of this provision, which is included in the fiscal year 2019 Defense Authorization bill. This mandate was implemented in an effort to decrease any national security threats within Chinese-made technology–including everything from cell phones to GPS systems to cameras.

“There is likely going to be significant impacts that will be felt across the federal sector,” said a government official who wished to remain anonymous in order to speak candidly. “It’s very clear that the Defense Department and other agencies fully support the intent of the rule. We all know there is a lot of information about how China transmitted data and stole intellectual property, so the intent of the rule to protect our national security is good. But, there will be unintended consequences because of how the specific language was written.”

The Chinese companies believed to include hackers who broke into systems within the U.S. intelligence and defense agencies’ information systems are Dahua Technology, Hikvision, Huawei, Hytera, and ZTE Corp. All affiliates of these companies are included in the provision.

Truckers will need to search for and get rid of any prohibited products within their technology systems, although the tech targeted may be extremely difficult to find within current corporate tech. The industry is still navigating how the government will enforce this requirement and what exactly is covered by the provision.

“I think we’re all catching on to what an incredibly potent statute Sec. 889 of the 2019 National Defense Authorization Act is,” said ATA’s Government Freight Conference executive director, Bill Wanamaker. “As a carrier or broker, how do you know whether any of this covered technology is in your electronic inventory?”

The law incorporates “essential” and “substantial” parts of covered equipment, according to Harold “Buzz” Bailey of Bailey FedK Consulting, and these parts include microelectronic data-routing components. “[When] most telecommunication equipment OEMs can’t ‘fix’ their components to make them Sec. 889 compliant, you have to buy new ‘NDAA-compliant’ equipment,” he explained.

These are the key points Bailey insisted carriers understand:

-Government contractors do not need to perform an audit of a supplier, and only need “reasonable inquiry” regarding its equipment purchase documents.

-Contractors should review their equipment purchase records and determine whether or not records show that the equipment is made by an OEM, installer, or distributor. Carriers should keep in mind that essential OEM components are not the ones in question.

-A trucking company can respond “no” to Part 2 of Sec. 889 if it has not received complete supplier survey answers but has finished a reasonable inquiry of its purchase record.

-Carriers need to expand their inquiries to both distributors and installers, and should contact OEMs about essential components.

Additionally, Bailey suggested carriers request a delay to the mid-August deadline and contact their congressional delegation despite any congressional reluctance.

“If your existing equipment is not on the list, then it’s probably not compliant,” said Bailey. “This could lead to an expensive ‘rip and replace.’ The government may not mount aggressive enforcement early on, but they may look to make an example of a company blatantly misrepresenting use of covered equipment. There is a waiver process available, but that process will take time and money. It’s best to discuss waivers with government customers sooner rather than later.”

A broad waiver was indeed requested by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence due to the Defense Department’s lack of clarity. Agencies have been able to request waivers either from ODNI or through a tedious internal process.

The Department of Defense has also set up a task force that includes all Defense agencies and services with cybersecurity experts in order to bring about more efficient waiver-issuing coordination.

The task force is meant to ensure consistency so that one service isn’t issued a waiver while another is denied, according to the government official.

“The real insidious part of this is that it’s a marketing opportunity for a lot of companies,” said Bailey. “That’s what really worries me, because these companies would normally say, ‘You’re going too far, government, you shouldn’t cover this and you shouldn’t cover that.’ But the equipment providers are just as happy.”

Many Fleets Rushing to Install Helpful Technology During Pandemic Challenges

September 15, 2020 by Levinson and Stefani Leave a Comment

Although many companies within the trucking industry have been hit hard financially during the COVID-19 crisis, many have gained much clearer insight into the necessity of high-quality and innovative technology in regards to their day-to-day operations.

Throughout the pandemic, technology investments have varied based on American fleets’ freight sectors, as well as their need to keep employees working from home and adhere to their drivers’ necessary safety precautions.

For example, for Paper Transport, a company with a fleet of 900 tractors and 3,000 van trailers, COVID-19 “has accelerated our ongoing investment” in technology, according to the company’s organizational development manager, Julie Decker.

“Our corporate office staff has been remote since March. We expect much of our workforce to remain remote through summer.” Decker also said that Paper Tranport’s truck-based tablets have allowed for these changes to be as seamless as possible for its employees.

The company, which operates across multiple freight segments–with paper products being a major one–saw its freight voluming skyrocketing during the pandemic, as well.

“Toilet paper during panic buying was crazier than you would ever imagine,” said Decker. Because of this, Paper Transport accelerated its tech implementation, with help from Trimble Transportation.

“We have been active, early adopters of a few new software solutions provided by Trimble since last year, and each of those has launched in production during the pandemic.”

Ozark Motor Lines in Memphis had been working on implementing video telematics systems in all of its tractors since January, and is planning to continue the endeavor despite any financial setbacks. The company is installing Lytx units in 750 tractors, according to Ozark’s vice president of safety, Patrick Landreth.

Now, instead of needing to wait for drivers to be routed to an Ozark Motor Lines destination to receive safety coaching, the company can send a recording of an on-road event to the driver and then connect with the driver for coaching and counseling.

“When you consider the social distancing guidelines with the pandemic, that remote coaching is huge,” said Landreth.

Lytx’s vice president, Rob Abbott, reiterated the present need for telematics systems, saying for many carriers, this pandemic has “accelerated and exacerbated” the overall necessity.

“We’ve seen fleets accelerate implementation without first conducting a long test,” and relying heavily on other industry businesses’ recommendations, Abbott explained. Extensive testing for these technological systems was a typical precaution before the pandemic.

When Lytx visited Ozark Motor Lines to install units along with the carrier’s technicians, they realized the installation process would be similar across different model years.

“Our mechanics took it and ran,” said Landreth. “They have been getting multiple trucks done per week. We don’t think we’re going to have any trouble hitting our target date.”

This project also includes system installation on around 60 owner-operator trucks, with the vendor implementing units onto independent operators’ tractors of all makes and models.

For installers, drivers, and fleet workers, the majority of training must be virtual now, Abbott said. “Whereas before, we might prefer an in-person session with a group.” Lytx utilizes methods of training within web meetings, online teaching modules, and video training.

Many areas of the trucking industry have seen such a rise in demand that quick technology implementation is a must.

“The supermarkets are seeing a huge boom,” said Jonathan Bates, MiX Telematics‘ head of global marketing. “They’re having to lay on more drivers, more vehicles, more routes, and they need the visibility that telematics provides more than ever because the pressure is higher.”

Still, though, when the industry has seen slowdowns in the past, the effects have been different, said CEO of McLeod Software, Tom McLeod. He said this particular economic shutdown has shown trucking businesses where they need to be “more nimble and more able to withstand” any disruption.

“During an economic downturn, the larger companies tend to move ahead with their projects, because they’ve got a little more time to implement new systems.” he explained. For mid-market carriers, those businesses “tend to put the brakes on and wait to see when the economy’s going to pick up.”

McLeod has seen a huge boost in demand throughout the pandemic, and said other companies have also been “making a decision on much shorter time frames in order to address the need that’s been made obvious.”

He warned, though, that expediting automated business technology is not always wise.

“Sometimes I say, ‘With a computer, if you get in a hurry, it’s going to take longer,’” he explained. McLeod’s trucking software has “a very orderly and methodical process that we stick to because if you start trying to take shortcuts and skip steps, then sometimes you have a situation that needs to be cleaned up later.”

Truck-Screening Technology Expanding Throughout Arizona

September 5, 2020 by Levinson and Stefani Leave a Comment

To keep compliant trucks moving regularly, the use of innovative truck-screening technology has been implemented across the Arizona Department of Transportation.

In a news release by ADOT, the department said it would be using this tech alongside commercial ports of entry in order to more easily record important identifying information of trucks as well as weight and other qualifying factors. So far, this truck-screening technology has only been in place at rest areas, such as the McGuireville rest stop on Interstate 17, Canoa Ranch on Interstate 19, and Sacaton on Interstate 10.

The truck-screening tech will now be expanded to commercial entry ports along Interstates 10 and 40, and on state Route 95 in Parker.

“This truck-screening system will allow our officers to focus on the commercial vehicles that need our officers’ attention,” said ADOT’s Enforcement and Compliance Division deputy director, Jeff Stanhope. “It helps us make better use of our resources and efforts while allowing trucks in compliance to go on their way.”

The technology, when expended across the major east-west routes of Interstates 10 and 40, will be passing through Arizona in order to connect New Mexico and California. With state Route 95 running along the borders of Arizona, it will also feed into California and Nevada.

“As you’re coming from New Mexico or California on either I-10 or I-40, you’ll go through these truck-screening places,” said Ryan Harding, spokesman for ADOT. “There’s a lot of truck traffic on those interstates.”

This tech has cameras meant to read USDOT numbers and license plates, weigh-in motion sensors, and message signs. At the Ehrenberg and San Simon ports of entry on Interstate 10, the screening technology can identify commercial vehicles that have tires in need of repair, as tire failure on any commercial vehicle can bring potentially catastrophic situations to the road and can allow dangerous tire debris to be left on roadways. For this feature, the agency is still evaluating how accurate the sensors can be.

When a truck is approaching an entry port, signs will direct the driver to the right lane, and when he or she reaches a half-mile point from the port, cameras and sensors are able to capture the commercial vehicle’s information and relay it back to the port’s ADOT Enforcement and Compliance Division officers.

The sensors and cameras along the roadway are meant to more easily collect necessary information about the commercial truck without the driver having to stop.

“The cameras are really high-speed, so they can capture the U.S. DOT number and license plate, and it’s able to weight the truck as it rolls over,” said Harding.

The screening system will then compare the truck’s information against state and national databases, and truckers that are compliant will be allowed to bypass the port. If the port’s system detects a problem, the highway signs will alert the driver that he or she must pull into the port for inspection. Some of these issues calling for a driver to stop include: out-of-service orders, expired registration, or permits not on file. At the Ehrenburg and San Simon ports of entry, this could also include any tire problems detected.

“It just makes it more efficient because the trucks are coming into the port are those trucks that need further inspection by officers, and the trucks that are OK can just continue right on,” said Harding. “It kind of smooths the flow of commerce.”

This truck-screening technology will not only make life on the road easier for truckers, but will also aid overall state planning. Size and weight information will be stored by ADOT in order to help its Multimodal Planning Division make more accurate and necessary decisions in relation to the state’s highway system.

It will also work to save truck drivers and officers resources and time on the job, and make their work a bit more stress-free.

“We hope that this will make it a lot more efficient for the flow of commerce in and out of the state, and make it more efficient for our officers’ time and resources as well by only inspecting trucks that need it,” explained Harding.

Tech and Social Media More Important Than Ever to Drivers During Pandemic

September 2, 2020 by Levinson and Stefani Leave a Comment

As drivers continue working on the front lines during the COVID-19 pandemic, social-distancing regulations can make truckers feel even more isolated than normal.

“Not only are drivers being exposed to the COVID-19 virus on a daily basis as they eat, fuel, deliver, and shower away from home, they worry about exposing their families if and when they do get home,” said president of Women in Trucking Association, Ellen Voie. “Now, add protests in major cities to the mix, and a driver’s physical safety is even more vulnerable. Their families need to be reassured that their loved one–a driver–is safe.”

Ruan president Dan Van Alstine agreed, saying truckers are especially worried about their families when they are returning home, or when they are choosing to self-isolate and stay on the road.

“A lot of times, drivers will have anxiety about what is going on at home,” said Van Alstine. “Right now, kids aren’t at school, and family members might be at risk. This is a bizarre time and can feel very different.”

For some drivers, social distancing has meant missing important family events or not being able to be present for family members in times of need. For over-the-road driver Glenna Willis, it has meant missing her husband’s occupational therapy appointments while he works to recover from recent health problems.

Because of this, Willis communicates with her husband and his doctors through Google Duo while on her breaks as she hauls freight for Tri-State Expedited Service out of Perrysburg, Ohio.

“I have a way to actually see his face and see how he is walking, or watch the occupational or physical therapy so we know what we can do at home,” she explained.

Like Willis, many truckers have been relying on technology to connect with family and friends back home, as well as with their carriers and co-workers. For drivers who are self-isolating on the job or who regularly work long-haul gigs, this mobile tech is especially important.

“Most drivers don’t go to a job and say, ‘Send me to a place where I’m going to have a difficult time staying connected,’” said DriverReach president, Jeremy Reymer.

Video chat capabilities through applications like Zoom and Skype have been widely used across the industry during this time.

“Video is very personal and engaging,” said Reymer, who called video calls the next best thing to chatting in person.

Those connecting with their trucking companies while on the road have found video chat apps extraordinarily useful, as well.

“We have a driver service department that calls drivers every day just to check in and see if they are having any issues we can help with,” said director of driver services for Averitt Express, David Broyles.

Cell phones have also become the new modern citizens band radio, according to professional driver Bob Stanton.

“We do daisy-chain phone calls,” Stanton said of himself and other drivers. “You can add people to the phone call. It is the chitty chat you would have done on a CB, but it is people we know instead of the random truck that happens to be in front of you. The challenge is if the person who started the chain leaves, you have to start all over.”

Stanton also has daily morning calls with his wife to keep them both assured the other is safe. “It is for both of us,” he said. “If she doesn’t call me back, the kids are going to go check on her. If I don’t answer the call, she has the 24-hour numbers for dispatch, so they can see if [my truck] is moving or not.” He also said he shares his location each not with his family via Google Maps.

Some drivers are having a tougher time with the isolation than others.

“I miss being able to give handshakes to my fellow coworkers,” said Averitt over-the-road driver, Chris Yohn. “I miss being able to have a meal at a truck stop surrounded by other drivers. There is no real way to combat the isolation. It’s just something we have to live with for now.”

Some companies are working on expanding further virtual communication among drivers in order to boost mental health during this time.

For example, driver health and wellness program provider Rolling Strong has a mobile app featuring social media pages allowing drivers to connect to new friends on the site.

“Once you find people, you can message back and forth between those new contacts you’ve made,” said Rolling strong president Steve Kane. “We built this whole gamification aspect of our program. You can create head-to-head competition.”

Kane said the mobile app makes it easier for drivers to connect to new acquaintances, and that drivers can also invite their family and friends onto the site, as well.

Averitt has also created a private Facebook page for Averitt drivers to more easily connect. The group is administered by the company’s driver services workers.

“Drivers share information they feel is important on the page and ask questions,” said Broyles. “We average about 900 posts or comments a day.”

Technology Proves to be More Important Than Ever for Trucking During Pandemic

August 23, 2020 by Levinson and Stefani Leave a Comment

Throughout the pandemic of the novel coronavirus, technology has played a major role in how trucking companies have been able to work through the changes and challenges of the industry during an economic shift.

“When you think about it from a technology standpoint, it’s all about communication and it’s about information,” said senior vice president of sales at NFI Industries, William Mahoney. “So, [this includes] being diligent and trying to do more with less.”

Employee health and safety has become a main focus of most trucking companies at this time, as well. In these efforts, technology has also helped companies reduce the number of in-person interactions typically required of daily duties.

“Our core value of safety in regard to drivers, dockworkers, office personnel, customers, and all essential members of the supply chain has been the primary focus of our technology and process improvements,” said Saia vice president of line-haul and industrial engineering, Patrick Sugar. “This pandemic has led us to challenge the way we think as an organization.”

One example of Saia’s implementation of helpful technology in the midst of COVID-19 has been the use of a time clock application within its employee portal, which is currently allowing for mobile and remote access for workers.

“From employees arriving to the terminal to clocking out at the end of the day, every process has been evaluated and modified in order to reduce face-to-face interaction,” Sugar explained. “We have leveraged technology where capable in the short time, and have built mid- and long-term technology road maps to create process resiliency.”

Many technological tools used in offices and vehicles to adapt with the current changes and to continue to allow loads to be efficiently booked and hauled are web-based solutions, said Trimble Transportation director of product management mobility, Jenna Dobrovolny. She also said the ability to work remotely has been a key component of these updates, as well.

As telematics systems automate dispatching, driver monitoring, hours-of-service compliance, and GPS location efforts, they play an important part in allowing workers to work remotely. When these systems are paired with safety devices like in-cab cameras, cargo monitors, collision avoidance systems, and lane departure control, fleets can have double the benefits.

“Telematics solutions are vital in the current situation,” said Mix Telematics head of global market, Jonathan Bates. “A fleet can only take care of safety if it knows what is happening every second of every day with its drivers and vehicles.”

Fleets’ safety systems can also be accessed remotely, said Stefan Heck, CEO of Nauto. Nauto’s in-cab camera technology has allowed safety personnel to work from home. This way, they give their feedback through the system application’s web portal.

The amount of data collected by telematics systems is currently more vital than ever, said Omnitracts CEO, Ray Greer.

“This unprecedented disruption means that drivers and fleets need to be much more reliant on real-time data from all tiers of the distribution model,” Greer explained. “Real-time routing and rerouting will be crucial in ensuring timely delivery of anything from basic goods to protective gear.”

For Estes Express Lines, touchless delivery has become a regular aspect of day-to-day activity. The company has stopped delivery appointment and signature requirements and keeps customers up-to-date on shipments via texts and phone calls. Vice president of process improvement at Estes, Webb Estes, says customers have taken the changes well.

“It’s important to understand that consumers don’t view the shipment and delivery process any differently from their online shopping experience,” Estes said. “To them, it is one continuous process.”

For NFI, technology has helped to analyze the market changes that have taken place since the beginning of the pandemic, as the company has dealt with higher-than-usual demand for essential services.

“How do we maximize the miles and hours that our drivers have to drive? ” Mahoney asked. “Because, right now, business has slowed down in so many verticals, like automotive.”

Will Connell, Gulf Intermodal Services President, praises the ability of technology to make the current necessary recovery a different process from that of previous economic crises.

“What’s different today than what happened in the Great Recession is the technology is much greater,” said Connell. “So, we’re able to leverage the technology that we have in the truck with our internal transportation management system.”

SmartDrive Video Safety Program to be Installed in All Knight-Swift Fleets

August 22, 2020 by Levinson and Stefani Leave a Comment

SmartDrive will be installing its video-based safety technology throughout Swift Transportation’s entire fleet across the United States and Mexico. Although Swift merged with Knight Transportation in September of 2017, Swift is just now using the safety program already utilized by Knight.

Swift Transportation’s focus is to boost its overall safety capabilities, as it joins not only Knight but hundreds of other fleets that are currently using SmartDrive’s system.

“Smart Drive allows our drivers and fleets to clearly see and measure safety performance, which allows the company to foster meaningful ownership of safety performance,” said company CEO, Dave Jackson. “SmartDrive excels in aligning drivers, operations, and management around insightful and actionable metrics, allowing us to reinforce our safety culture of accountability throughout our entire organization.”

Swift Transportation believes this program will help its drivers to execute their own performance improvement through the safety score metrics they receive as well as the system’s helpful dashboard technology.

“Knight Transportation has experienced meaningful reductions in collisions rates since installing SmartDrive in its fleet,” said Knight-Swift Transportation senior vice president of safety and risk management, Brett Sant. “That experience was instructive in the decision, ultimately, to roll out the SmartDrive program within our Swift fleets.”

Once SmartDrive was implemented into the company’s fleets, Sant knew it would create a manner of individual driver responsibility for overall safety. “We wanted to create some useful and clear visibility,” he said, “so people can see how they are doing and improve.”

Currently, Knight-Swift operates a fleet of around 19,300 tractors and 68,000 trailers and containers. The Phoenix-headquartered company also has around 25,000 employees and provides full services in truckloads and logistics throughout the entire continent of North America.

“We are grateful for the work SmartDrive has done and the positive impact the SmartDrive team has had on our fleet’s safety,” Sant said.

Jackson’s goal for the company, from day one, was “to be the safest company in the truckload industry the world has ever seen. I don’t think that is mutually exclusive with being the largest and most profitable. For us, we define success as being the most profitable and safest company on the road.”

Because of this, company executives worked to “de-risk” Swift as much as possible with safety blueprints already in use by Knight. “We tried to learn everything we could [about Swift] and use the data to help guide what was working and what needed to be improved,” said Jackson.

From the beginning, the company’s top priorities were to establish driver training systems, as well as accountability systems, to foster a culture of safety among all employees.

“We started with the foundational part. Did we have the right people?” Sant said. “We had the right principles guiding what we were doing.”

This is when Knight executives focused on safety technology, and reached a decision in March of this year to replace the previous Lytx DriveCam technology used by Swift with SmartDrive.

Because Knight had been using SmartDrive’s video-based system since 2016, the company knew that experience was going to be “very positive” throughout Swift’s vehicles, Sant explained.

Jackson added that with the technology, Knight has had large declines in its DOT-recordable crashes, as well as insurance reductions and decreases in accident claims costs.

These positive changes came from both SmartDrive external recording cameras and driver-facing cameras. These are used in collaboration because “we don’t feel like an inward [camera] adds value or creates those conditions that are really critical to our culture at this time,” said Sant.

“It’s not the first step that you do to improve the safety of a fleet,” Jackson said of external cameras, “because anybody can go buy a camera, but not everybody gets the same results.”

SmartDrive’s user interface was a major factor in Swift deciding to implement the technology into its vehicles. The dashboard “allows us to not only see but effectively quantify how people are performing to create some visibility and ownership around performance,” explained Sant.

SmartDrive’s system monitors driver data, as well as the vehicle’s ECM, to spot unsafe driving behaviors (like speeding or following another vehicle too closely). A driver’s speed can also be measured in relation to driving conditions with an advanced feature of the system.

Then, SmartDrive calculates scores based on safety and gives real-time feedback to drivers. These scores are focused on safe behaviors as opposed to looking at all individual events that take place during a drive, said SmartDrive CEO, Steve Mitgang.

“The goal isn’t to have 10 less harsh braking events,” he said. “What you want is a driver to drive at the top of his game. Our score represents how the driver is doing, not just how much they did good or bad.”