These days, discussions are all about autonomous trucks, platooning trucks and other tech driven innovations. There are a lot of new technologies being touted as “the next best thing” to revolutionize trucking.

We’ve already witnessed significant technological and fuel efficiency strides with the testing of autonomous vehicles and two-truck platooning (Platooning – a driving strategy featuring digitally tethered trucks traveling in single file to reduce drag). But as we look in the near future, for the commercialization of these technologies, we shouldn’t lose sight of the freight hauling efficiency technology that is already available. There are great ways to increase fuel economy today. Which are far short of the promised precision of self-driving trucks or groups of platooning commercial vehicles.

There are plenty of obstacles on the road to mass adoption of electric cars. And one of the biggest is the infrastructure. In a nation where there is a gas station on every corner, finding a car charger that works and is open for use can be very hard. A public network of chargers is evolving day by day, but it’s tough to catch up to gasoline.

There are over 39,000 charging spots set up in garages, parking lots, apartments and other locations. Several hundred of them capable of so-called DC express charging, which can provide 200 miles of charge in an hour for cars currently on the road and promises much faster fill-ups as car batteries become more advanced. So practically, drivers can charge up their electric vehicles while having a lunch/coffee break, or while they are parked in.

According to ATA, there are 3.5 million truck drivers in the U.S. With less than 9 weeks before the ELD mandate takes effect, over 1mil truck drivers have yet to comply.

Many of the for-hire, private fleets and owner-operators have not deployed an ELD device yet. So, this shows that the market is going to be pretty wild over the next two months till the deadline is reached.

While enforcement of the mandate starts Dec. 18, truckers won’t immediately be put out of service or told to stop driving if they don’t comply with the deadline. The Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance and the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration have established a grace period until April 1. But this doesn’t mean that drivers who won’t comply starting Dec. 18, will not face fines or collect violation points in the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s Compliance, Safety, Accountability, or CSA, scoring program.

Every day your fleet generates an enormous amount of information regarding many things. Fuel consumption, miles logged, speed tracking, vehicle utilization are just part of them.

Previously, all of this information had to be collected manually, resulting in significant lags between when an issue occurred, when it was noticed and when something could be done about it. However, IoT has ushered in an era where vehicles, driver devices, and office technology are connected in real-time.

As a result, now fleet managers can collect, analyze and understand all of the data from their fleet and act on it ASAP.

Commercial Vehicles – Driving Regional Success Through Innovation

Truck manufacturers need to make major structural changes and focus on innovation if they are to reap greater profits and growth… Read more.

*Source: https://www.trucks.com/2017/10/05/commercial-vehicles-driving-success-innovation/