Fleet Management News & Business Info | Commercial Carrier Journal
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/493405
JACK ROBERTS is Executive Editor of Commercial Carrier Journal. E-mail jroberts@ccjmagazine.com or call (205) 248-1358. solidifi ed in the 1950s and hasn't changed much. But the reality of a family of four with a stay-at-home mom and two cars in the garage really hasn't existed in this country for a couple of decades, yet that's the scene in virtually every car commercial on TV today. Tech companies understand that young people today have different concepts of what transportation should be and how it should work. In that world, even the notion of car ownership is questionable. Maybe you just rent a car. Maybe you and a group of people own a car collectively and schedule its use via the In- ternet. Maybe that car is electric and runs off power collected from a solar grid. There are a lot of "maybes" there, and who knows if they'll come to pass. If they do, it will be because companies like Apple, Google and Tesla are trying to fi gure out how to make those ideas come alive, and those lines of thinking are anathema to the big car manufacturers. 3. Finally, there's the technology aspect. This is where the massive eventual impact on trucking comes into play. Tech companies understand better than anybody else the world-altering potential for the systems they're developing. They look at our existing transportation technology and the ways we move both people and products and see a landscape as antiquated as the one CCJ's fi rst editors gazed upon more than 100 years ago when they saw a horse-drawn wagon plodding down a city street. These companies understand that transportation is vital to our future economic and technological growth, as well as the continued increase in our col- lective standard of living. They not only want into the transportation industry but also want to change it radically because they believe they can make a lot of money transforming and serving an industry they see as woefully out of date. As Internet sales continue to explode, how much longer do you think cus- tomers are going to put up with missing a package because they weren't home to sign for delivery? How long will it be before a fully transparent real-time automated delivery system brings your package to you, whether you're at work, home or on vacation? If you think you're under pressure now to deliver vehicle uptime, fl eet ef- fi ciency, fuel effi ciency and green operations, just wait; the issues fl eets are dealing with today are just the beginning. Add innovative technologies, new business models, alter- native fuels and real-time telematics into the mix. That's not just my opinion; that's just the way things are going. COMMERCIAL CARRIER JOURNAL | APRIL 2015 25 WANT MORE EQUIPMENT NEWS? Scan the barcode to sign up for the CCJ Equipment Weekly e-mail newsletter or go to www.goo.gl/Ph9JK. Why are Google and Apple interested in automobiles? Chromed & Super-Finished Piston Rod Every Gabriel rod surface is chromed and superfinished. This inhibits rust, minimizes deterioration and keeps the piston free of debris. A smooth chromed rod reduces the amount of wear on the seal and increases shock life. Gabriel has been perfecting shock absorber technology since inventing the first one in 1907. Heavy-Duty Durability PROVEN through & through www.gabriel.com